


The Taming of the Prince

by RedGold



Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Taming of the Shrew AU, shakespeare au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-04 11:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4135377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedGold/pseuds/RedGold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki was in want of children. But thanks to one of Odin's rules, he is not allowed to have any heirs before his older brother, Thor. Unfortunately, Thor doesn't seem to be in any rush to settle down. So Loki takes it upon himself to find Thor a wife... even if he has to invade a planet to do so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Rules

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at a straight up comedy piece. It's a loose reinterpretation of the Taming of the Shrew story. I should be able to post once a week at least as I have most of it written already. Enjoy!

Loki was in want of children. 

He wanted be a father, or a mother again, he wasn’t terribly concerned about that part. At over a thousand years old he felt he should already have a dozen kids by now. Granted, that was a lot for a typical Asgardian family but he was hardly a typical Asgardian.

Hel, he wasn’t even Asgardian. Like his parents really thought he wouldn’t figure out that there was something different about himself? The fact that he could change his biology on a whim hadn’t even been his first clue. 

For a few decades Loki had been very annoyed at his parents for what they did, the secret they kept. Eventually he forgave his mother, it wasn’t really her fault that his father was a bit of a dick. As for Odin, Loki only played nice to his face for fear that the man might ship him back to Jotunheim. Loki was raised Asgardian, it was what he knew, it was the skin he was comfortable in, so he rather stay on Asgard.

Occasionally Loki would do what he could to subvert his father’s rules. He never got caught of course. There was no fun to be had in getting into trouble. Not only was there the risk of being sent back to Jotunheim, but worse, he could get sent to Midgard to teach him ‘humility’. Please, Loki knew exactly what being humble meant and entailed, he simply found no use for it most of the time.

But unfortunately, there wasn’t much Loki could do to sneak around Odin’s policy about the line of succession. 

The rules were simple enough. Thor had to marry and have a child first because he was the oldest. Thor was going to be king and his child would be the heir to the throne after him. Loki could not have children until Thor did because otherwise there could be an argument over who was the true heir.

(Sleipnir didn’t count as horses could not be king. It was actually a law that pre-dated Odin for reasons too lengthy to discuss at this time.)

Loki was pretty sure Odin’s new rule was just there to keep a half-Jotun off the throne. Loki could understand that. It pissed him off, but he saw the reasoning. 

Loki was never to be king. 

It took another decade or so to get over that fact. It wasn’t until his magic-training partner had reminded him for the umpteenth time of all the limitations that would be placed on him should he become king that he finally accepted his fate. A king had much less privacy than a prince, and a lot more paperwork. 

Being the prince meant he could spend his time playing with magic, playing his little pranks, and playing with his children.

Once he had his children.

“Loki,” Sigyn snapped her fingers at him, “are you paying attention?”

“No,” Loki responded and went back to mentally trying to figure out a way around Odin’s rules. It wasn’t like Loki couldn’t secretly have children, as the father or mother, but that would defeat a lot of the reasoning for having them. 

Loki so enjoyed his time raising Sleipnir from a foal, and what a fine young stallion he had turned out to be. (Of course Sleipnir would, with breeding such as his.) But as much as Loki loved his eight-legged brood, he wanted to be able to raise children he could teach the arts of magic and steel. Having to keep them stolen away would limit the time he could spend with them. 

“At least you’re honest,” Sigyn sighed and waved her hand, getting rid of the illusions she had brought up.

“Don’t be like that,” Loki told her as he walked off and started to pace, “I have a very serious situation to deal with. Our magic training can wait.”

“Anything I can help with?” she asked with only slight interest.

The daughter of one of the members of the Royal Court, Sigyn had been chosen by his mother to be Loki’s magic-training partner when they were children. Sigyn was a natural, quick to learn, and able to keep up with Loki who was unnaturally talented as Asgardians go when it came to inherent magic. That still wasn’t Loki’s first clue he wasn’t Asgardian. 

Although they no longer trained as students, both having become masters of the magical arts, Loki preferred her company as a friend. They could talk of magic and art, which were subjects that were not Thor, or the Warrior’s, strong suit. He could also speak to her of things that he could not with others as she held no judgement towards him. Especially that first time he turned into a female because it simply felt natural to do so. 

When he became pregnant with Sleipnir, blessed accident that it was, he had to remain as a mare until his son was born and suckled. Sigyn took care of Loki in the stables, providing him with company and non-judgmental discourse via magic. From time to time she’d brush and braid Sleipnir’s mane, putting flowers in it as she said it made him look more handsome. 

The woman was truly his dearest friend, other than his brother, Thor, or course.

Thor was indeed his closest friend, but Sigyn made a better accomplice in crime.

“I need to find a wife,” Loki said as he turned around. 

“You need a wife?” Sigyn blinked.

“Not for me,” he pinched his nose, “for Thor.”

“Oh.” This did minimal to alieve her confusion.

“Sleipnir deserves to have siblings,” Loki told her straight out, there was no use with subterfuge with her.

“Well,” Sigyn nodded, giving him that look that meant that she wasn’t going to judge him for his behavior but it was going to take her a few minutes to process it, “Svaðilfari is still amenable to you. He’s gotten older but still able to produce offspring. Unless, of course, another stallion or mare has caught your fancy.”

Svaðilfari was a beautiful stallion, a _very_ beautiful stallion. “There is no other like Svaðilfari,” he admitted to Sigyn with a soft sigh and a light smile, “and what we had was a moment in time, a whimsical moment.”

“Of course,” she cleared her throat and clasped her idle hands behind her back, “then is there a woman who has caught your eye…” then she quickly added, “or a man perhaps?”

“I understand how procreation works, Sigyn,” he told her dryly, “I am a mother after all.”

She blushed and went to explain herself but he waved her off again.

“Finding a suitable mate for myself is pointless,” he continued on, starting to pace again, “because if Thor doesn’t marry and have children then who knows what Odin might do to my own offspring should I have an ‘heir’ before his beloved golden boy.”

Loki didn’t blame Thor for the fact that their father obviously played favorites. Thor benefited from it, Thor knew that, and he tried to share his good fortune with Loki. But sometimes Thor was simply the favored son, the favored prince, and there was nothing either of them could do about it. At least not without mass homicide. But Sigyn assured Loki that this would not be in his best interests. After a lengthy discussion involving cost-analysis figures with charts and graphs, Loki reluctantly agreed.

“Odin already took Sleipnir as his war horse!” Loki would never let that go. “Granted, my son is the finest stallion Asgard has ever seen but, honestly, is that how you treat your grandson?”

“Sleipnir agreed to the arrangement,” Sigyn cautiously reminded him of the truth, “he likes being the leader, in the highest position of power. Wonder who he gets that from?”

“Don’t try to be coy, Sigyn,” he replied blandly, “you’re not any good at it.”

Sigyn made a very unladylike face at him that was neither polite nor coy.

“I digress,” Loki said by way of apology, “now back to the subject at hand.”

“You need to find a wife for Thor,” Sigyn said as that was the root of the problem.

“Yes,” Loki continued to pace about the room, “because he seems daft at finding a suitable one himself.”

Thor wasn’t exactly promiscuous, but he had had his fair share of women over the past few hundred years. It was a reasonable number of bedmates for someone with such stature and classic Asgardian beauty. But not a single one of them were suitable enough material to be Queen of Asgard. 

“All the women he’s been with have either lacked the poise and intelligence,” Loki rambled on, something he was only able to do in Sigyn’s presence because of their friendship, she would not see him as weak for doing such a thing, “or they lacked the proper social standing. There are plenty of women in the court who share both these traits and yet these are the women he doesn’t find interesting.”

“I doubt he does it on purpose,” Sigyn defended Thor, “sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants.”

“See,” Loki turned towards her, pointing his finger at the woman, “you would make a great Queen. You’re a member of the court, smart with a good head on your shoulders, but does Thor fall for you? No.” Loki paused, narrowing his eyes at her as a thought came to mind.

“Loki Odinson,” Sigyn placed her hands on her hips, “if you are thinking of having me seduce your brother I will have you remember that Sif has taught me how to use a short blade and I know where your soft bits are.”

Sigyn was rarely one to make threats, let alone idle ones, so he backed down on that idea. Still, it gave him another. “Lady Sif!” he declared. “She would make a fine Queen, a little bloodier than most, but she has an outstanding grasp of inter-realm politics.”

“She also has no interest in being Thor’s wife, let alone in becoming Queen,” Sigyn reminded him. “Remember, a hundred and, oh, thirty five years ago? She and Thor had that thing while we were all in Vanaheim?”

“Vaguely,” Loki thought about it for a moment then the whole incident came back to him. “Oh, yes, she kicked him out of her tent, he was stark naked save for Mjolnir. It was hilarious but hardly the most embarrassing moment of my dear brother’s life.”

“They are too much alike, too dominate,” Sigyn shook her head and went over to where she had laid her things on the table, “they make better friends than lovers, sometimes that’s just how it is.”

“There has to be someone,” Loki tsked, tapping his hand against his thigh as he rapidly went through all the possibilities. “Who would you suggest?”

“I suggest that you speak with your brother,” Sigyn advised him as she gathered her belongings, “explain to him the situation. He knows he’ll have to find a Queen one day, there must be a reason he’s putting it off.”

“Yes, perhaps I will speak to him.” Loki was struck with an idea. It would get Thor married off and on his way to having children nearly immediately. With any luck, Loki could tell Sleipnir that he was going to be a brother before his next birthday.

Yes, it was a brilliant plan, very ingenious. Loki was quite proud of himself actually.

Six days later when Thor was being banished to Midgard until he learned some humility, Loki still thought it was a brilliant plan. The execution of it could have used a little work though.


	2. The Hammer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

It was Loki’s fault.

It was _always_ Loki’s fault.

But Loki was his brother, he loved him dearly as such, and Thor took his punishment without dragging the younger man down with him. Loki’s heart had been in the right place, but that place was about two realms over from where it probably should have been. Besides, Thor could use a break.

Being a prince is exhausting.

Not only was he expected to be the fiercest and bravest warrior in all of Asgard, which he was, but he had so many duties he had to attend to. There was the constant requests and feasts and appointments. Thor had the worst of it because he was the crown prince. Everyone knew he would be king one day and so they were attempting to ingratiate themselves to him.

If only Loki knew how envious Thor was of his younger brother. Loki could turn into a horse, bare a foal, and the court would just raise a brow and move on. If Thor had done that, there would have been chaos in the court. His future as King would have been brought into question. No, Thor had to maintain an air of respectability that kept him from even being able to relax.

(Not that, you know, Thor had any actual inclination to have a dalliance with a stallion, but it would be nice to have the option.)

Thor did love his nephew, Sleipnir, and would bring him treats whenever he went to the stables. It was unconventional to have a horse as a nephew through an adopted brother, but family was family. The court may have thought Loki’s liaison with Svaðilfari to be of a dubious nature, but Loki had been truly smitten and Thor couldn’t begrudge his brother such feelings. 

Thor liked to be supportive of Loki, knowing that their father was always more critical towards his brother. He always treated Loki like second best, like an afterthought. He would then treat Thor like he was the best thing since cold fusion which was quite unfair, and very annoying. Thor didn’t want to be the golden child any more than Loki wanted to be the problem child.

When Loki came to him with yet another one of his crazy schemes, Thor was happy to follow along and see what happened. Usually Loki’s shenanigans turned out one of two ways: pretty good or pretty bad. There was typically no middle ground with him.

Thor wasn’t sure which one this fell under.

He was now banished to Midgard to ‘learn some humility’ for his ‘childish behavior’. Midgardian technology was positively medieval, but at least he didn’t have to listen to courtiers ply him with false accolades all day long in attempt to gain his favor or a crown of their own.

Although he could have done without getting hit by the small flightless boat.

“Don’t be dead,” a woman’s face appeared over him as he stared up into the stormy sky after being knocked to the ground. 

“It will take much more to best the mighty Thor!” he laughed as he stood, popping his shoulder back into place with only a slight grunt. “Now, where is my hammer?”

“Your… hammer?” the diminutive woman asked. 

“Yes, it’s about yay big, forged in the heart of a star.” Thor framed out the hammer with his hands but the woman just frowned at him in confusion. Of course, he was on Midgard and last he heard they all thought Asgardians were nothing but myth and magic.

“Dude, you hit him pretty hard,” another woman came up beside the first, “why is he still standing?”

“I do not know,” the lady, Dude, replied warily then looked straight at him. “We should take you to the hospital.”

“Worry not,” he smiled brightly, that usually assured people, “I am fine. I’ve had worse hits in my day.”

“You could have brain damage,” Dude grabbed him gently by the arm and led him to the flightless boat, “some kind of internal hemorrhage that is putting pressure on your hippocampus.”

“Do you even know what the hippocampus is?” the other woman asked as she followed them to where an older man was staring pensively at a small, flat box.

“Not really,” Dude replied with a frown, “but I know what a hemorrhage is and it’s not good to have one in your brain.”

“You didn’t kill him,” the older man said with relief as he looked at them. “I can’t get a signal in this mess.”

“We’re taking him to the hospital,” Dude said as she left him and went around to the other side to the flightless, encased boat.

“Good idea,” the man opened a door and gestured for Thor to crawl inside. 

The three Midgardians continued to talk while Thor examined the boat. He realized it was running on some form of combustible engine, which surprised him. It wasn’t long ago they were only experimenting with the steam engine. This world wasn’t as advanced as back home, but if they had made this much progress in so few years, then perhaps his short stay wouldn’t be all that bad.

…

They tried to stick him with needles, the nerve of those healers! Perhaps Midgard was still in the Dark Ages after all. 

Though breaking the machine they called a cat-scan was probably a bit over-reactive.

Thor had only gone to the healers ward, or hospital as they called it, to be nice to the lady who introduced herself as Jane (Dude must be the family name or a title, he didn’t get that clarified). She felt so bad for hitting him with her vehicle that it was the least he could do to ease her mind. If he had known she was going to hit him again, he might have reconsidered.

“I am so sorry,” she said as she rushed out of her flightless boat, “I’m not doing this on purpose, I swear.”

Deciding that it was safer to keep the woman where he could see her, Thor went with them back to their science center. She offered him some new clothes which he accepted so that he could blend in more with the locals. Thor often stood out in the crowd and enjoyed the attention, but even he understood that this was one of those times where subtly was best.

Not to mention the cut of the trousers, as odd as the fabric was, really showed off his lower abs and hips. Everyone always complimented his broad shoulders and strong arms, so it was nice to see the women checking out the rest of his form. Yes, Thor had a bit of a vain streak. He couldn’t help it. He was a prince and a fine specimen of Asgard. At least he accepted his vanity with humility.

Some humility. 

A bit.

Moving on, Thor was duly impressed by Dude Jane’s knowledge of what the Migardians called Astrophysics. She was very close to creating her own version of the Bifrost which was both fantastic and very troublesome. Was Migard ready for that kind of power? He would have to learn more about them and their current eco-political situation. 

As apparently throwing dinnerware was now out of fashion, he had no idea what else may have changed.

“Don’t do that,” Jane scolded him and he looked duly chastised for his transgression as he apologized. Yes, much had changed on this world since last he had visited. 

But that was a discussion for later, first he had to get Mjolnir back and by chance he heard commoners speaking of it at the tavern. He wasn’t sure how to get to where they spoke of, there were no horses or giant goats to be used for transportation. He risked his life once again by letting the Dude Jane drive her flightless boat out into the desert. It was a long drive and his thoughts were filled of him returning home.

Although, did he have to return so quickly? It had been rather nice not being a prince for a time. And Jane was a lovely young lady, he admired how her eyes started to light up with the energy of a thousand suns as she spoke of her research…

No, no, nononononono… he must not start having feelings for a Midgardian. Not only is it taboo in the Royal Court for the Prince to mix with someone from another realm in such a way, but she had maybe another sixty or eighty years left to live. It was no time at all to an Asgardian.

No, he must stick to his plan. Get his hammer. Go home. Smack Loki upside the head with said hammer. Carry on as usual.

…

“What do you mean you can’t pick up Mjolnir?” Loki nearly shouted at him, his usual calm and collected demeanor replaced by annoyance and indignation. Honestly, one would think he was personally slighted.

But it was Thor who was unworthy.

Mjolnir had garnered the attention of some authoritative figures, it was to be expected. They put up a fair fight which was pleasing to engage in despite Thor’s strength being weakened by his banishment. Everything was going quite well, he made it to his beloved weapon and set his heart to go home…

But Mjolnir rejected him.

“Oh, that bloody hammer,” Loki started to pace in front of him, “it’s sentient, don’t tell me it’s not, and it’s messing with you just cause it thinks it’s being funny.”

Thor couldn’t understand why Mjolnir had rejected him. Thor was a good prince. He always fought bravely and often showed mercy. Sure, occasionally he did things for the Hel of it but usually no one got hurt. No one that mattered anyway.

Like the Midgardian’s… they are puny and weak… they don’t matter… well, there was the Dude Jane…

“This is a disaster,” Loki said as he placed his head in his hand. “What did you do so badly to annoy father so much?”

“What did I do?” Thor scoffed. “I’m here because I followed your plan.”

“You’re the one who listened to me,” his brother shot back, spreading his hands in a hopeless gesture. “Why do you ever listen to me? After all these years, have you not learned anything?”

Thor couldn’t argue that one. He really should have known better. But, again, Loki was his brother and sometimes his plans turned out pretty good for him. 

This time though, Thor found himself sitting on an uncomfortable metal chair in a white room in the camp that had been set up around Mjolnir. He had no fight left in him once Mjolnir had rejected him, so he let himself be led away. Loki had showed up a little time later, dressed in Midgardian clothes and likely using his magic to avoid their conversation being noticed.

“Come on,” Loki finally sighed, gesturing towards the door, “I’ll get you back up to Asgard, get this sorted out.”

“No,” Thor stilled his jaw and took a deep breath, coming to a decision.

“No?” Loki actually managed to look confused.

“Mjolnir has deemed me unworthy,” he explained as the words truly sunk in.

“It’s a hammer,” his brother nearly laughed, “and an insufferably smug one at that. Pay it no mind.”

“You do not understand, Loki,” Thor shook his head, “I must stay here, on Midgard, and learn to be worthy of Mjolnir’s might once again.”

Loki stared down at him with a pinched expression before rolling his eyes. “Fine, do what you must, but please make it quick.”

“It will take as long as it takes,” he told him, his mind already trying to figure out where exactly he went wrong. Listening to Loki was possibly his first mistake… but he knew it went deeper than that.

Thor’s shame was his own and he would find a way to become worthy again.


	3. The Destroyer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading!

“Honestly, it’s like he’s not even trying.” Loki scowled and started to pace around the room.

Sigyn waved her hand and the scrying mirror shimmered into a simple reflective surface. They had peeked in on Thor to see how he was doing in his quest to become worthy and so far he had only discovered how to cook what was apparently called a ‘proper English breakfast’.

“It’s been two days,” she tried to assure the man without sounding exasperated at his impatience, “one does not simply unlearn behaviors overnight. It’s a process.”

“Behaviors,” Loki latched onto the word, “which behaviors?”

“Thor is a good man,” Sigyn explained softly, “but he has become complacent in the past years. If the situation presented itself he would do the right and honorable thing. But he is the strong one, the would-be king, and no one questions his actions these days, challenges him.”

“His humility has become lethargic.” Loki nodded as he realized the truth of her words. “Father was right to send him to Midgard then.” The prince turned and looked straight at her. “Don’t tell anyone I ever said ‘father was right’ about anything.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” Sigyn replied, trying not to smile.

“As much as my brother is in need of a little old fashioned soul searching,” Loki continued his pace throughout the room, “I can’t just sit around and wait for him to have an epiphany.” 

“Have you spoken to your son?” she asked him after a short silence, hoping to distract him.

“He’s ecstatic at the thought of being an older brother.” Loki beamed proudly, then turned thoughtful. “Although I think he’s glad they will be bi-pedal. He wouldn’t be too happy if they were also stallions.”

“He’s afraid they will overshadow his greatness?” Sigyn smirked. “Sounds familiar...”

Loki gave her a dry look, then pressed on. “There must be a way to speed up the process. Thor was worthy before, it shouldn’t be hard to make him worthy again.”

“He has to make himself worthy,” she pointed out, “you can’t do it for him.”

“Well,” Loki scoffed and waved his hands towards the mirror, “he’s not going to gain worthiness cooking breakfast meats no matter how enticing they look.”

“The simple fact that he accepts that he’s become unworthy,” Sigyn tried to sound optimistic, “that he’s not fighting it, means that he’s already halfway there.”

“He just needs to show Mjolnir that in the difficult situation,” Loki tapped the edge of his finger on his chin thoughtfully, “he’ll do the right thing.”

“Yes,” Sigyn agreed before she realized that was a bad idea.

“So we create a situation,” Loki’s stood up straight, rather pleased with his sudden idea and started to walk from the room. “Something with a lot fire and screaming, real life threatening, yeah, that’ll work…”

As he left and headed down the hall, Sigyn hiked up her skirt and started to chase after him. “Loki… Loki think this through!”

…

“They may have taken our research,” Jane stood up from the table, “but we’ll start again.”

“From scratch?” Selvig frowned as he nursed his hangover. 

“Yes, but it’ll be easier this time,” the woman poured herself another cup of coffee, “because we already know what worked and what didn’t. Granted, rebuilding some of the equipment is going to be a pain but less trial and error.”

As the two scientists discussed how they would go about rebuilding their science center, Thor couldn’t help but smile. Jane’s work had been decimated by the military group who called themselves S.H.I.E.L.D. which, to be honest, was a fairly pretentious name, even to Asgardian sensibilities. But the woman was not going to let herself be defeated. 

Thor couldn’t help but admire that strength, to not let the defeat sour her soul. 

As Selvig started to write some things down, Jane glanced over and smiled back at him. It was a bit of a shy smile, she wasn’t very good in hiding her obvious attraction to him. He was used to that, of course, many women found him desirable, he was a prime example of Asgardian beauty. But there was something more to the way she looked at him. Like she was seeing through his exterior into his soul.

It was an uncomfortable feeling because he was afraid he falling for the woman for much the same reason.

“Found you!” There was a loud banging on the glass and Thor looked over to see his friends standing outside, waving at him.

His troubles momentarily forgotten, Thor ran to the door to let them in. Greeting them with boisterous hugs, he was very happy to see familiar faces.

“Um, Thor?” Jane asked with only a slight tint of worry to her voice. 

“Good friends,” he address the warriors and Sif, “I want you to meet the Lady Jane, oh, and the Lady Darcy and Sir Selvig.” Thor had learned that Dude was in fact a universal nickname of sorts and not her title as he originally suspected.

“Did I just get knighted or something?” Darcy asked as the three humans waved awkwardly at the Asgardians.

“May I introduce the Warriors Three: Hogun the Grim, Fandral the Dashing, and Volstagg the Voluminous,” Thor continued introductions, “and the ever dangerous, Lady Sif.”

It only took a few minutes to update Thor on what had been happening on Asgard since his banishment. There had been a bit of an uproar in the court, but Odin had quelled all concerns. Thor had been sent to Midgard to ‘broaden his understanding of the lesser Realms’. It sounded a lot better than admitting that he put his son in a time out. 

The court accepted that this was a decent enough reason and were sure Thor would be returning soon. Even Loki was optimistic of his brother’s immediate return, which should have been Thor’s first clue that something hinky was about to occur. 

After several minutes, Thor managed to speak to Jane as she put on a new pot of what they called coffee. 

“So, Lady Sif,” Jane said as she poured water into the machine, “is she your… girl friend?”

“Yes,” he answered her but when he noticed her mood seemed to sink he elaborated, “but no more than the warriors are my boy friends.”

Jane’s head popped up and she blinked at him with a strange expression, but then she laughed awkwardly. “I think we have another miscommunication. You think I mean girl friend as her being a girl who is your friend.”

“What else would she be?” Thor frowned slightly at her.

“Here, on Earth,” Jane cleared her throat and tried to explain, “a girlfriend is someone who you are… close to, romantically.”

“Ah, someone you are emotionally beholden to.” Thor nodded his understanding and smiled lightly at her. “No, in this case, Lady Sif is my friend, but not my girl friend.”

“Oh, okay,” she tried to cover her relief at learning that but she did so poorly. She was a very real person, the Lady Jane, she wore her emotions proudly. Smart and beautiful as well. 

Thor found himself fearful. He knew he was destined to outlive this woman but he found he didn’t care. Yes, his heart would eventually break but it would be worth it being held in her small hands for as long as fate would allow. If he stayed on Midgard he’d miss home but he found he’d miss her more.

Reaching up, he brushed her hair from her face and traced the line of her chin to cup her neck. She looked up at him with slightly parted lips and wide eyes. 

“Thor!” Volstagg shouted and it brought him out the moment. 

Turning to face the man, Thor instead saw a Destroyer approaching from the other end of the town. It was knocking over cars and leaving a swath of destruction in its wake as it headed down the street towards the research building.

“A Destroyer?” Thor said, Jane momentarily forgotten as he rushed forward. “It will level this town. We need to stop it.”

“No,” Volstagg put his hand on Thor’s chest to stop him as he made for the door, “you are without your strength. We will handle this.”

There was a consensus among the warriors and they quickly left to face the metal guardsman. 

“Destroyer?” Jane asked as she came up next to him.

“An automated being used to guard sensitive areas of Asgard,” he explained as he watched his friends go into battle. 

“And it’s attacking Puente Antiguo because?” Darcy had her phone out, taking images.

“I just don’t know,” Thor admitted… though it would occur to him later that of course it was Loki’s fault.

It’s always Loki’s fault.

…

“Those blasts are devastating,” Sigyn chewed on her lip as she watched the scene unfold through a scrying mirror.

“I programmed it to avoid animals,” Loki waved her off, “oh, and people, I remembered that this time.”

“Buildings aren’t people,” she pointed at the image where a shop front was blasted into slag.

“Of course they’re not people,” Loki gave her a ridiculous look. Then when he saw her pensive expression, he said, “It needs to look good. Like there is a real threat here.”

“You programmed the Destroyer to kill the Warriors Three and Sif!” she didn’t bother to keep her voice calm or collected. 

“No,” he held up his hand, “I simply tweaked its programming about dispatching traitors,” Loki cleared his throat, “then classified the Warriors Three and Sif as traitors they moment they spoke with a banished individual.”

“You talked them into seeing Thor in the first place,” she sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to win any part of this argument when Loki was like this.

“I needed an inciting incident,” he shrugged and brought up another scying mirror which showed Heimdall at the Bifrost.

“Why isn’t Heimdall bringing the Destroyer back?” Sigyn watched as the intimidating Asgardian stood powerless and frustrated at the control of the Bifrost.

“I rebooted the operating program the moment the Destroyer landed on Midgard,” he grinned proudly at himself for covering all his angles. “Should be enough time for Thor to prove to Mjolnir that he is worthy.”

Sigyn turned back to the first mirror and saw that the Warriors were not faring well against the metal guardsman. Sif had driven her sword through its back and spine but while this would be fatal to a creature of blood and bones, the Destroyer simply shrugged it off. No, Sif needed to be more precise in her attack and take out the control board. 

But Sif would have no idea where that was. None of the warriors would. Their best hope was one large all-encompassing blast which would destroy the Destroyer in its sheer intensity.

“Ah, see, there,” Loki pointed at the mirror as Thor walked down the street towards the Destroyer. “Look at him, being all noble and offering himself up for the sake of his friends.”

Sigyn let out a squeak and covered her mouth when Thor took on the Destroyer and found himself laying on the ground, unmoving.

“Oh, he’s fine,” Loki waved her off, “he’s had worse hits. He’ll be back up in no time.”

Many heartbeats passed and the older prince failed to stir. 

She glanced over worriedly at Loki who was hiding his own fear behind slightly widened eyes. “Any time now…” 

“Loki,” she said quietly, “Thor doesn’t have his full strength, you did consider that, yes?”

“Of course I did,” he shot back but his fingers were tapping the table as they continued to watch the scene unfold. 

The scientist lady rushed forward, trying to wake the prince but it was no use. She hovered above him as if she could somehow shield him from the destructive blast of the Destroyer.

“Oh, come on,” Loki shouted at the image, “does that woman not have any sense of self-preservation?”

“Thor!” Sigyn shouted helplessly as the Destroyer let out another blast straight at Thor and the scientist.

As the dirt kicked up around what was surely now going to be two very mangled bodies, she looked over at Loki.

“Yeah…” he gave an awkward laugh, “maybe should have thought this one through a little more...”


	4. The Worthy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again!  
> Enjoy!

Jane was dead, she was sure of it. She had lost her mind, running to the Asgardian who lay prone on the ground and putting herself in the path of danger. But she knew, in her heart, it couldn’t end like this. She had faith, which battled every instinct of her scientist soul.

The Destroyer let out another blast and there was a deafening noise with an intense heat. But beyond breaking out in a mild sweat, Jane found that she was, in fact, not dead.

Thor had moved at near lightning speed, standing and shielding her with his body as he brought his hammer to bear. And dear lord, it was an actual hammer. 

“Are you okay?” he asked her as she stood.

“Are you okay?” she echoed back, seeing that his body was now covered in similar garb to his friends. It was ornate, giving him a powerful presence, even with the cape. It was like he was her own, personal, scraggly haired Prince Charming come to life.

“Move back,” he told her, adjusting his grip on his hammer, which was not a euphemism, “I’ll deal with the Destroyer.”

Nodding numbly, Jane started walking semi-backwards, away from the fire spewing metal machine. Idly she wondered if he would let her take it apart once he was done pummeling it with his hammer. Jane honestly wanted to know how it could generate that much heat in a localized furnace. What kind of fuel was it using? How was it containing the blast into a stream? 

“Jane!” Darcy yelled her name as the woman, Selvig, and the rest of the Asgardians joined her at the end of the street. “Man, I thought you were gonna be deep fried by that thing.”

“Look, Mjolnir has returned to him,” Sif was pointing at Thor who had nearly finished, “he is worthy once again.”

There was lots of noise, the sounds of metal striking metal, but soon Thor stood above the Destroyer which was now laying on the ground in a heap. With a regal surety to his gait, he jumped down and headed up the street to them.

All Jane could do was stare. “Is… is this how you normally look?”

“Yes,” he smiled at her.

“It’s a good look,” she admitted with slight awe. 

“We need to return to Asgard,” Volstagg said, “discover why the Destroyer was sent here.”

“You are right, of course.” Thor nodded at the man and then looked to Jane with an apologetic frown. She was sure he was about to say something when they were interrupted by a black van pulling up and men piling out.

“You!” Jane pointed at the Agent Coulson who had been the one spearheading the confiscation of her research.

Coulson ignored her and went straight to Thor. “We need to talk.”

“I am sorry for the destruction, Son of Coul,” Thor waved him off as he and the Asgardians headed into a more open area, “but I need to return to Asgard to ensure this does not happen again.”

“Yeah, statements like that,” the man said as he kept up with him, “they don’t help my disposition much.”

Thor turned to the man, baring over him but not trying to intimidate him. “You have my word, the matter is handled and you have nothing left to fear.”

“Listen here skippy, I’ve seen Fury without his morning coffee,” Coulson replied dryly, “there is plenty to fear.”

Thor gave him a slightly confused look, but then turned towards Jane. “I will return to you, this I promise.”

Jane was speechless at the declaration. This super-human alien from a super advanced world was going to return… to her. Maybe he’d let her examine his clothes, they had to be nanotech. 

The Asgardian noble stepped back, closer to his friends, then looked up into the sky and said, “Heimdall, open the Bifrost.”

At his command, a streak of colorful energy shot down to the ground. When it cleared, all that was left was ruins marking the ground and the slight smell of ozone. Screw nanotech, she wanted to know how that thing worked!

…

“It’s your fault, Loki,” Thor yelled at his brother across the dais of the throne room, “it is always your fault.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Loki feigned innocence, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Loki,” their mother frowned at him, “you were trying to help your brother, you can admit that.”

“The mighty Thor? Needing my help?” Loki laughed at the ridiculousness of it. It really wasn’t a lie either. Thor would have gotten there, eventually, Loki just pushed him along.

“Who else would have reprogrammed the Destroyer to go after the Warriors and Sif?” Thor randomly gestured towards the vault where the Destroyer was usually kept.

“That is peculiar.” Loki nodded in agreement. They would find no evidence of his tampering, he simply needed to maintain his innocence.

“Sigyn,” Thor turned to the woman who had been reluctantly dragged into the room for the altercation. Sif stood behind her, making sure she wouldn’t slink away, “Did Loki reprogram the Destroyer to attack the Warriors?”

“No,” she replied easily enough. Loki reprogramed it to attack traitors. That is the question Thor needed to ask. But Loki was confident that the woman wouldn’t give him up, she was faithful like that.

Odin let out a groan as he rested his head in his hand. “Did anyone die?” 

“I don’t believe so,” Loki replied helpfully and looked to Fandral.

“Aye, no one died,” Fandral confirmed with a bit of a frown, “but there was a lot of damage, several buildings will have to be re-mortared and flightless boats repaired.”

“The Midgardians have this thing called ‘insurance’,” Loki once again was helpful. “Their things will be fixed and replaced easily enough.”

“We’re going to get nowhere with this.” Odin straightened up in his throne. “Thor has once again become worthy of being the Crown Prince and future King of Asgard. Let us celebrate and be done with Midgard.”

“Jolly good idea,” Loki smiled as his mind started to race with new plans on how to get himself a niece, or a nephew, or a whatever.

“Celebrate if you must,” Thor told him as he stepped forward, “but I am to return to Midgard.”

“You want to go back to Midgard?” Odin asked before Loki had a chance to.

“Yes.” The older prince stood tall and proud. “I made a promise to Jane that I would return once I ensured the safety of Midgard.”

“Jane?” their father frowned. “Who’s Jane?”

“She’s a wonderful woman, father,” Thor spoke almost wistfully, “and I know I have much still to learn about humility and humbleness from her, and from Midgard itself.”

“You got Mjolnir back,” Loki pointed out. Thor going back to Midgard was the exact opposite of what Loki needed right now. 

“Mjolnir has deemed me worthy, yes,” Thor turned to him, “but because I acknowledge that I need to continue on this path of self-discovery.”

“Path of self-discovery?!” Loki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was not the brash and abrasive Thor that willfully walked himself into trouble.

“Would you have seen Thor while on Midgard,” Fandral spoke up, “he is a changed man now.”

“Changed for the better,” Sif agreed.

“And what of the crown?” Odin asked his son, his voice deep and resounding.

“I cannot in good conscious take the crown,” Thor responded with surety.

“It is your right!” Odin nearly bellowed.

“One for which I am ill-suited for at this time.” Thor responded without rising to their father’s antagonizing nature. Perhaps the man had changed as his friends purported. Did the scientist Jane somehow tame the prince? “I must continue to grow as a leader.”

“You will make a great king!” Their father was likely about to jump from his seat.

“I’d rather be a good man than a great king,” the Thunder God countered, “this I have learned on Midgard, and why I must return.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Loki mumbled under his breath. 

“Bah!” the King waved at Thor dismissively. “You will return within a fortnight. Midgard is much too primitive, you will bore of it and your wench quickly enough.”

Everyone frowned at Odin, even Loki. Though mostly they frowned at themselves because it wasn’t a surprising thing to hear the man say.

“We shall see, father,” Thor responded in a tone that spoke of his attempt to remain civil, yet another way the man had changed as before he would have been apt to get into a yelling match. Thor then turned to the others. “Friends, I will spend tonight here and celebrate with you our victory this day.”

The Warriors and Sif responded with subdued joviality as they saw the move for what it was. Thor would be leaving them for awhile, he didn’t want them to feel abandoned or forgotten. Loki wouldn’t be surprised if the group ended up on Midgard for as long as it took Thor to decide to return. It wouldn’t be a fortnight as their father said, but eventually Thor would return.

But not soon enough.

After Thor and his friends left, Odin stood and turned to his wife. “Come, Frigga, we have much to discuss.”

“Yes, we do,” she nodded as she took his hand to be led off the dais, “such as how you put a spell on Mjolnir that our son had to break by essentially _dying_.”

“He didn’t _have_ to die,” Odin fumbled a bit and Loki smirked at his mother, “there were other ways for him to prove his worth.”

“But most all put him in grave danger,” Frigga wouldn’t let up.

“This is not what we need to discuss,” the King tried to say with an authoritative tone as they walked into the hall.

“We’re discussing it,” was the last thing Loki heard his mother say before they went out of hearing range. 

Loki was left standing in the throne room with Sigyn who gave him a sympathetic frown. Who knew how long Thor was going to stay on Midgard, possibly a hundred years. And after Loki went through all that trouble to get Thor worthy again!

Frustrated, Loki released his tension by waving his arms and stomping his foot as he muffled a scream through a clamped jaw. 

“Loki.” Sigyn stepped forward, her hand outstretched as if to comfort him.

“I’m fine,” taking a deep breath, he waved her off and ran his hand through his hair, “I’m fine, I just need a change of plans.”

“You’re not going to do anything to the woman, are you?” Sigyn tried to hide her worry but failed. 

“No,” he quickly assured her, then paused, “unless that’s an option?”

“It is certainly _not_ an option,” Sigyn answered sternly.

Loki wondered for a second if perhaps Sigyn was mistaken. After all, if Jane was gone, Thor would have no reason to stay on Midgard and he’d have to come back to Asgard. But then the doctor dying or disappearing might turn him melancholy and therefore less apt to take another lover. Upon consideration, Sigyn was probably right, she usually was about such things. 

No, what Loki needed to do was to step back for a moment and do some research. He needed to learn more about this woman who had tamed the prince of Asgard into a better being. Then he could find a way to properly manipulate both so that he could get what he wanted.

…

Loki was banging his head on the desk when Sigyn entered the room.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him, seeing that he had the scrying mirror up. It was trained on Thor who was spending an afternoon with the doctor.

“He loves her,” Loki said miserably as he pointed at the mirror, his head still laying on the table.

“Thor loves the Doctor Foster?” Sigyn clarified as she approached and could see the image better. Thor and Jane were sitting next to a fire, drinks in their hands, laughing and smiling as they spoke to each other. The look on Thor’s face was one that she hadn’t really seen before on the man, but it spoke of deep emotions she was far too familiar with.

“He’s so happy,” Loki continued to mumble despondently, “how can I take that away from him?”

A little smile formed on Sigyn’s lips. Loki was selfish, to be sure, but he loved his brother and it was moments like this where the younger prince’s better-self shined through.

“Well, Jane Foster is a scientist,” Sigyn offered cheerfully, “and while her social graces do seem to need some polishing,” after all, who wear’s flannel _and_ polka dots, “she would make a good Queen.”

“Thought of that,” Loki lifted his head and slumped down in his seat, “but she’s a complete commoner. Her title is a learned degree, little more than calling someone a Master Craftsman. She has no relation to royal blood of any kind. She’s not even an internet celebrity.”

“An internet celebrity?” Sigyn raised a brow at the unfamiliar word.

“I was getting desperate for options,” Loki said as he ran his hand over his face and through his hair. 

“Oh,” she frowned and decided to ask the obvious, “but is there any way to, say, buy her a title? It’s not as highly regarded as a noble birth, but still valid.”

“It’s possible,” he sighed and stood, “but the woman is a Midgardian. They’re primitive and short lived people. For father to accept her, she’d have to have a very grand and impressive title. Something that can’t be bought.”

It was true, buying a Dukedom wasn’t that hard if you had the coin to do so. But it just wasn’t that impressive the Royal Court who was very snobbish towards the less advanced realms. Already there was talk about Thor ‘slumming it’ and how they thought Loki was supposed to be the eccentric prince.

“I’m sorry, Loki,” Sigyn put her hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, “we’ll figure this out.”

“Actually,” he looked up at her, “I have an idea. If I can make Thor worthy of Mjolnir, then I can make this Jane Foster worthy of the Royal Court.”

“Oh?” Sigyn asked cautiously seeing as his plan to make Thor worthy destroyed half a town and nearly killed Thor in the process.

“Yes,” he smiled proudly to himself, “I’m just going to need a mercenary army.”

Sigyn blinked. “What for?”

“To invade Midgard with, of course,” he tsked as if it was obvious.


	5. The Invasion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading! Hope you're enjoying the story. :)

Loki walked down the hallway of the underground facility he had appropriated for his invasion. Everything was coming along quite efficiently, better than he had hoped. The Midgardians had landed their hands on an Infinity Stone which they called a Tesseract. It was nothing for him to walk in and take it using his magic to disguise himself. 

“Status report,” he asked Sigyn as he entered the room where she was putting together the portal device using the purloined Tesseract. Having it as an energy source made the job much easier.

“Near completion,” she advised as she was putting a cylinder carefully into a case. “Have you found a location?”

“Stark Tower,” he told her as he looked over her work, “it makes a potent symbol inside a globally watched city. It’s also located near the United Nations, which is a bit of a misnomer if you ask me.”

“You’ll have the attention of the entire world.” Sigyn closed the case and handed it off to one of the mercenaries they had hired locally.

“I’ll have control of Midgard by mid-meal.” Loki was rather pleased with himself. It was going to be quite the show.

…

“Report.” Fury walked swiftly onto the bridge of the hellicarrier.

“We have multiple enemy contacts,” Maria Hill brought up the map display, “they seemed to have amassed here, here, and here,” she pointed to the locations before settling on Stark Tower, “and the portal is being held open by an energy beam here.”

“Stark home?” was his immediate question though he already figured out the answer.

“Vacationing in Paris,” she brought up another display, “but he’s in route.”

“Contact him before he reaches Manhattan,” he came to a decision, “tell him whatever you have to and get him to stand down.”

“Stand down, sir?” Hill followed orders, didn’t mean she didn’t question their validity.

“Stark goes barreling into a nest of alien invaders, he’ll get that tin can of his ripped open,” he crossed his arms and peered out over the landscape, “so I’m initiating the Avengers Initiative.”

“The Avengers,” she frowned at him, “I don’t think they are ready, they’ve never worked together before.”

“We’ve never fought aliens before either,” he reminded her.

This was going to be a bad day, he could already feel it in his bones. Why not take the risk with the Avengers? Not like they could do much worse.

…

“My demands are quite simple,” Loki broadcasted out on every wavelength, “this world you call Earth, it is mine now.”

There was lots of yelling, that was to be expected. 

“You have seventy-two hours to declare fidelity to me,” Loki continued, “or there will be consequences. I think you will find that what I can offer the Earth in way of technological advances outweighs any possibly nationalistic tendencies you might have.”

Loki finished his speech and shut off the feed. Oh yes, everything was going quite smoothly.

…

“I want to know why I’m not over there kicking his ass,” said Stark as he started fiddling with Fury’s command screens on the hellicarrier.

“There is an entire alien force sitting on Manhattan,” Captain Fancy-Pants said from where he sat at the table at the back end of the command deck, “and so far they haven’t made any overly aggressive moves, we don’t know what kind of firepower they have.”

“They have pew-pew guns,” Legolas shrugged as he fiddled with one of his arrows, “we have a Hulk.”

“Yeah,” Big-Green said hesitantly from where he stood off to the side, “the Hulk is not really good with collateral damage.”

“Has anyone been able to get ahold of Thor?” Mean-Red-Headed-Traitor-Lady asked and the Avengers just looked at her with confused frowns. “Loki, Norse God of Mischief, brother of Thor? Did no one else read up on this stuff?”

“I looked at the pictures,” Katniss Ever-Hawk admitted with a blank expression. “He’s the one with the over-compensation on his head, right?”

“The one who stole the Tesseract right out from under you,” Mad-Eye Moody spoke as he came onto the deck, his coat billowing. Such a diva.

“Hey, his illusionary tech,” Merida’s Love Child defended himself, “is way beyond what we have.”

Pirate Pete gave him a disapproving glare before addressing the entire team. “Our intel shows that there are only two Asgardians. There are some human mercenaries, and the aliens are called the Chitauri.”

“Where did we get this intel?” asked Captain Tight-Pants.

“JARVIS,” Tony smirked as he turned away from the screens. “They may have disabled the Tower’s defenses but JARVIS has been able to take some video and audio.”

“The aliens seem to be a mercenary force as well,” the Furioso continued his debriefing, “so even if we can neutralize Loki and his assistant, we’ll still have to deal with them. No telling how they’ll react. They could pack up and leave or decide to level everything for the fun of it.”

“Then we come up with a plan,” Captain If-I’m-So-Great-Why-Haven’t-I-Been-Promoted-Yet America addressed everyone. “Loki may have better tech, but it’s home field advantage, and we have JARVIS on our side. We go in clean, set him up and knock him down.”

“Yeah,” the Green-Meanie let out a nervous laugh, “the Hulk is not a precision weapon.”

“We’re going to need _you_ , Dr. Banner,” Stars and Stripes told him. “Someone is going to have to deal with that portal machine.”

“I’m with the Captain on this,” Fast and Furious told them. “We take the intel we have and go about this smart.”

“I’m sorry,” Stark waved his hands in a dismissing gesture, “but how am I to take any of you folks seriously when that man over there is playing Galaga.” 

Everyone looked over to where Stark was pointing and the agent quickly closed the game screen. 

“Director,” someone called from a different bank of screens, “we have a situation.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Patch grumbled and turned to the woman who was leaning over another agent and moving images around the screen.

“We just had something fly into the Stark Tower,” Agent Didn’t-Bother-To-Catch-Her-Name said, “it’s Thor, sir.”

“JARVIS,” Stark said as he tapped at one of the main screens, “illuminate us.”

The visuals on the screen changed, it showed the upper living area of Stark’s personal penthouse. Loki had made himself comfortable up there much to Tony’s chagrin. 

Loki was standing near the bar, using it as a table as he read over something that his assistant handed him. Thor came crashing through the window to confront him. A few words were exchanged but Thor literally picked Loki up by the throat and threw him into the fireplace. Even Tony could see this was a bad idea as they still had the Chitarui to deal with if they suddenly became without someone to bankroll them.

“Told you we should have gotten to Thor first,” the Itsy Bitsy Spider was only marginally smug.

…

“How’s it coming along?” Loki asked Sigyn as she stood at the bar in the main living area of Tony Stark’s personal quarters.

“About as expected,” she said as she handed over a tablet that displayed all the latest intel on various government council sessions. “Most seem to believe they’ll be able to repel us. Once they realize they can’t, then I think they won’t give us much trouble.”

“Yes, though I am curious as to why Stark hasn’t tried to come take his tower back.” Loki frowned thoughtfully. He had expected the so-called Iron Man to appear hours ago and had set up a trap appropriately. Perhaps Stark’s reputation was well earned and he was in a drunken coma and had yet to awaken? 

There was a crash and clap of thunder as his other expected guest arrived.

“Loki!” Thor bellowed as he rose from where he landed on one knee.

“Oh, brother,” he replied cheerfully, “how good to see you.”

“Why have you done this?” The Asgardian got straight to the matter at hand. “Why have you invaded this planet?”

“It’s Midgard,” Loki said with a bit of a shrug, “who hasn’t invaded it?”

Thor did not find that comment amusing, so he grabbed Loki by the throat and threw him. Loki hit the rock fireplace, cracking the stone and falling to the floor. Perhaps the prince hadn’t been tamed that much by his fair maiden. Oh well, it was actually good to know that the future King of Asgard still had some bite in him.

“Settle down, you big oaf!” Loki yelled at him as he stood and dusted himself off.

“Settle down?” Thor yelled back. “Not only have you invaded a peaceful planet, but with the Chitauri? Mercenaries?!”

“For one,” Loki held up a finger, “Midgard is not that peaceful. They kill each other over the most inane things! Surely you’ve noticed their cruelty?”

That stopped Thor for a moment. If the man had paid any attention to current events while he was courting his Doctor Foster, then he would see it.

“There is good in this world,” Thor finally spoke, “there is good in them.”

“And I, as their new benevolent leader,” he placed his hand over his heart, “will help them achieve a new era of prosperity and understanding.”

“They may need a guiding hand,” Thor waved his hammer at him, “but you are suggesting subjugation. No people can thrive when they are held by a yolk.”

“I’m not going to subjugate them… much.” Loki could see Sigyn in the background, her eyes telling him that he should just speak the truth of why he was doing this. 

Loki greatly considered it when Thor stomped forward to grab him, mumbling, “I’m going to tell mother what you’re doing.”

Now that was a valid threat, and Loki used his illusions to get out of the way. “Mother always supported me and my endeavors!”

“I don’t think she ever encouraged you to invade a planet!” Thor turned around, trying to figure out which of the three Loki’s now standing in the room was the real one.

“We’re Asgardian princes! Of course we’re going to invade a planet!” Loki moved quickly as Thor threw Mjolnir to sweep the room. “Honestly, why haven’t you invaded one yet?”

Thor groused, still unable to tell which Loki was which. “At least I wouldn’t use a hoard of mercenaries!”

“What was I to do?” Loki shouted, dismissing the illusions. “Go up to dear father and ask him for use of the Royal Guards? I’m not you, Thor, Golden Prince of the Golden Realm, beloved by all!”

Things might have started to get a little personal and Loki realized he might want to take a step back for a second. This wasn’t about him, well, it was, in a way. The end goal was about him, but at the moment it was all about taking control of Midgard so he could make Jane worthy of Asgard.

“Loki!” Sigyn shouted and he turned to see Stark come flying into the tower. 

The red and gold armor floated above the floor, Stark threating him with his palm blasts. “Hey, Reindeer Games,” he said as his mask popped open, “don’t touch my stuff.”

With a flick of his wrist, Loki let off a localized, multi frequency EMP pulse that was specifically designed to take out the Iron Man armor. Stark likely had shielding but Loki had magic. The suit fell apart and Stark tumbled to the floor, nearly face planting.

Loki smirked, please with himself and his forethought. But that was quickly squelched as he was hit by something hard and circular which knocked him back even as it bounced off of him.

“What was that for!?” Loki shouted at the man in a red, white, and blue onesie who took back his ricocheting shield. At least he thought onesie was the proper Midgardian term. He’d have to look it up later. 

“Loki,” the man in blue said as another man dropped from a cable, just out the window, “gonna have to ask you to stand down.”

He looked between Stark who was starting to stand up, the man in blue with a big shield, and the third one who stayed back with nothing but a bow and arrow. Loki raised a single brow. “Really?”

“Be easy, Man of Iron and Captain,” Thor spoke with easy intimidation, “there is no need for violence. I was just having a civilized discussion with my brother.”

“Civilized?” The Captain looked a little perplexed. “You grabbed him by the throat and tossed him like a rag doll.”

“Yes,” Thor answered, not sure why he had to, “but it didn’t hurt.”

“It hurt a little,” Loki had to correct him. 

“Cause you’re a big baby,” Thor was having none of it.

“Well, excuse me if I have delicate features,” Loki was taken aback, or at least pretended to be, “and you have bilgesnipe hooves for hands.”

“There is nothing wrong with my hands,” Thor levelled his hammer at Loki, “you whinging pom.”

Loki gasped. “I’m telling mother you said that!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That last part is like a hidden pun... I love it. XD


	6. The Demands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and for all the kudos!  
> Just heads up that I may not be able to post for another week, this weekend is pretty busy for me.

“You two really are brothers,” Steve said as he glanced between the honest-to-goodness aliens.

“Yes,” replied Thor as Loki mumbled, “On a good day.”

“This is ridiculous,” Stark rolled his eyes and headed over to the bar.

“Loki,” the female Asgardian spoke up as she was looking at the tablet in her hand, “there is man and woman attempting to shut down the portal.”

Steve had hoped Romanoff and Banner wouldn’t be noticed as they snuck onto the roof. He also didn’t expect to be greeted by Thor and Loki bickering like teenagers. Stark pouring himself a drink didn’t help matters much either.

“You might advise them against that,” Loki said with a grin. 

“Loki,” Thor warned.

“You think I’d be stupid enough to create a single breach point?” Loki tsked and waved them off. “Not only will the Chitauri start attacking the moment the main portal is shut down, but another will be opened in which even more soldiers will pass through.”

Steve considered this for a moment and turned to Thor. “What do you think?”

The Thunder God stilled his jaw, then looked to the woman. “Sigyn, is this true?”

Sigyn cleared her throat. “We’ve set forward contingencies should the portal be closed.”

“Have your men stand down,” Thor turned to Steve, “for the moment.”

“One,” Stark said as he poured himself another drink, “who is this woman, and two, why are we trusting her?”

“This is the Lady Sigyn,” Thor told them, “and be glad she is here. She’s about eighty percent of Loki’s impulse control.”

“I wouldn’t say that!” Loki defended himself but when he saw the looks the Asgardians gave him, he relented. “More like twelve.”

“Last time she went on an off-world holiday,” Thor pointed his hammer at his brother, “you turned into a mare and got yourself pregnant. If she had been around she would have least made you use protection!”

Loki considered this for a moment. “An argument could be made for fifteen.”

“Wait, wait,” Stark threw back a gulp of liquor and looked to Sigyn, “if you’re his impulse control, then why did you let him invade us?”

“What’s this about a horse?” Barton added as he lowered his bow slightly.

“He was going to have the Chitauri blow up some landmarks to make his point,” Sigyn told them as she gave the dark haired Asgardian a worn look. “I advised that it would be counterproductive.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Stark realized he was out of whatever was in the decanter. He frowned and started messing around with the bottles.

“Loki fucked a horse?” said Barton. “That really did happen?”

“I will not have you speak so vulgarly of my son’s conception.” That set off Loki who looked vaguely murderous towards Barton.

The comm unit in Steve’s ear made a slight crackle sound before Black Widow said, “We can shut it off.”

“Delay that,” he said into the comm, coming to the decision to err on the side of caution, “but keep control of the package.”

Loki smirked as he looked back to him. “You really should just go to your leaders and tell them to cede your world to me.”

“Brother!” Thor bellowed and once again leveled his hammer at the man. “This isn’t like you. What use do you have in ruling a planet?”

“Of course I don’t want to rule it,” Loki made a duh expression, “I just want to _own_ it.”

“No one can own a planet,” Steve responded only to receive another raised brow from Loki and a sheepish look from Thor.

“Actually,” Thor said, “it happens, quite often.”

“There are whole empires in this realm,” Loki elaborated, “and they own many planets. Some taken through barter, others through negotiations, and some by force.”

On a rational level, Steve knew that there had to be many other planets out there with sentient beings on them. Hell, he was talking to aliens from a whole other universe. But the kid who used to watch Flash Gordon was stuck a bit wide eyed at the thought of actual Space Empires.

“And so you’re just gonna try and take ours by force?” Stark replied to Loki. “Some kind of hostile takeover thing, which yeah, I get, been there, done that, you get a shiny new toy to parade around.”

“Hardly,” Loki was completely unimpressed, “it’s just one planet, and not that very advanced either.”

Stark took offense to that, but Steve cut him off. “Then why do it? There can’t be much prestige to be had in taking over the Earth. So what do you get out of it?”

“Yes,” Thor turned back to Loki, “what do you get out of it brother? You know the Royal Court won’t care about this victory.”

“True,” Loki said thoughtfully, “it is just Midgard.”

Stark gave a huff and held out his arms. Within seconds, pieces of metal came flying into the room. Stark was now encased in a new suit of armor and was floating above the floor, palms out. 

Loki snapped his fingers and the armor fell apart, Stark face planting again. The short Avenger just shrugged and said, “Whatever,” and headed back to the bar.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Steve put his shield away, across his back. “Loki, why don’t you tell us what you really want here.”

“I’ve told you what I want,” Loki crossed his arms and stood tall, “I want Midgard.”

“But not to rule, not to use our natural resources,” Steve was trying to get to the root of the reason, what Loki was hiding, “and I don’t think you’d go to all this trouble just to be able to say you own the planet and let us carry on as if you never appeared.”

“The Captain is right,” Thor stepped closer to his brother, “conquest has never been in your nature, Loki. You care not for such things.”

“Thought I’d try something new,” the younger Asgardian was nonplussed.

“You’re being childish, Loki,” Thor goaded his brother, and it worked.

Loki fumed, turning on his older sibling. “I’m being childish? You are a Prince of Asgard. You have responsibilities! To our people! To our parents! To me!”

“Wait,” Barton laughed, “are you jealous that big bro isn’t around to hang out with you?”

“Oh, please,” Loki rolled his eyes. 

“Tell me what this is really about, brother,” Thor stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder, “and stop this madness and come home.”

Loki frowned and it seemed genuine. “You think me mad, brother?”

Thor returned with a troubled grimace, staring at his brother with both love and distress. Steve never had a brother, but he had close friends, he had Bucky, and he couldn’t imagine what Thor was feeling right now. To see someone you care about turn mad…

“He’s doing it for you, Thor,” Sigyn spoke with urgency.

“Sigyn!” Loki called out to her warningly.

“Just tell him, Loki,” she pleaded with him.

“Tell me what?” Thor looked intently at his brother.

Loki gave a disapproving glare at the woman, but after a few moments of glancing around the room, he finally gave in. “You know father and the Royal Court disapprove of you spending your time with a Midgardian, a commoner one no less.”

“I don’t care what they think,” Thor told him, his brow bunched in slight confusion. “What does this have to do you invading Midgard?”

“The plan was simple,” Loki shrugged, “once I got control of Midgard, well, I told you I didn’t want to rule it. So I was going to place someone in charge, someone who had no political agenda and could see to the proper dispersing of the technology that I offered.”

“Jane?” Thor caught on faster than Steve. “You were going to put Jane in charge of Midgard?”

“Oh yes,” Loki said with a smile. “I was going to give her a rather impressive title too. Though we hadn’t quite settled on it yet. I was thinking Supreme Ruler but Sigyn said that was a little passé.” 

“I thought something more glamorous was needed,” the woman added, “such as Empress. Something that will really wow the Royal Court.”

“Why,” Thor looked between them, “why would you do this?”

“Because you are hopelessly and irrevocably in love with her,” Loki nearly shouted. “But you’ll never be able to wed her, have a family with her, and then she will be gone from your life all too soon.”

Thor once against stared at his brother, but this time his mouth gapped slightly, a bit of awe in his eyes. 

“Let me see if I got this right,” Steve thought he had a handle on the situation now and it kinda made his head spin. “Loki, you invaded Midgard so that you could give Jane, uh, Thor’s girlfriend, a title that would make her look good to the members of the Asgardian Royal Court. Therefore allowing Thor to marry her, if he so chooses. And you did it because you wanted Thor to be happy?”

“Basically,” Loki responded with a shrug.

“Dude,” Barton interrupted, “I totally get this, and not gonna lie, it’s kinda romantic.”

“It is romantic,” Stark agreed from where he leaned on the counter, “except for, you know, the massive army out there and, oh, taking over my brand new tower!”

“So that’s really all you want.” Steve ignored Stark. “You want an impressive title that you can parade around in front of the Court for Jane.”

“Pretty much,” Loki nodded his head.

“You invaded a planet,” Thor finally spoke, “to ensure my happiness?”

“Well,” Loki shrugged again, “it’s only Midgard.”

Thor wrapped his brother in a large bear hug. The younger Asgardian awkwardly returned it with a few pats on the back. Steve got the feeling Loki wasn’t much for physical affection. 

“You still invaded a planet,” Thor said when he separated from his brother.

“Yes,” Loki told him with grim certainty, “and I’m not going to leave until I get what I want.”

Everyone in the room was suddenly reminded of the reality of the situation: a large army of mercenary aliens were just sitting around, waiting for the attack command. Loki was doing this for his brother, but he also wasn’t going to back down either. He came to Midgard for one thing and he was going to get it.

“If all you want is a fancy title for Jane,” Steve said, coming up with a plan he was pretty sure he could pull off, maybe, “then I think we can work something out without you taking over the planet.”

Loki narrowed his eyes at him. “I’m listening.”


	7. The Negotiations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

“And he doesn’t even ask me what I think,” Loki was sitting at the bar between Stark and Barton, “he just decides to take Sleipnir, his _grandson_ , as his war horse.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty douchey,” agreed the annoyingly vulgar one, Hawkguy or something, as he took a swig of whiskey. 

“And I thought my dad was a dick,” Tony shook his head, pouring Banner a drink, “but I think Brucey here has us on their father’s A+ parenting.”

“I don’t really want to think about that right now.” Banner refused the drink. He was standing on the other side of the bar, trying not to engage but seemingly unwilling to leave.

“Why does everyone have terrible fathers?” Stark looked around at those gathered in the room, then settled on Romanoff. “Hey, Widowmaker, I bet your father was a barrel of laughs.”

The assassin simply gave him a stern glare which caused the inventor to find his drink much more interesting than it actually was.

“Well, that’s England on board,” spoke a SHIELD agent who was standing off with Sigyn among several others agents who had made a small command area. Thor had called the lead agent Son of Coul. “Everyone else should follow suit.”

“Not necessarily.” Sigyn frowned as she read over the tablet in her hands. “From what I can tell, European politics is much like your American Congressional politics. Mostly it’s a bunch of spoiled and complaining individuals who will do things just to be contrary.”

“Once again,” Stark lifted his drink, “the lady’s not wrong.”

“I think in this case,” Son of Coul cleared his throat, “they all have a common goal here.”

The common goal being to repel an alien invasion. 

Loki smiled inwardly, it was all going as well as he had hoped. Everyone was playing exactly into his hands, including Thor.

Sure, Loki could have completed his ‘invasion’ of Midgard and forcefully placed Jane on whatever throne he decided to create. But that would have taken so much more work to complete and maintain. The paperwork alone was enough to sour his stomach. Not to mention actually leading the Chitauri in battle across all the continents and quelling insurrections. That would take time… and effort.

No, the governments literally giving him exactly what he asked for, and doing the work themselves, was so much nicer.

And it happened much quicker than he thought it would, what with the so-called Avengers showing up. He thought it would go on at least another day or two before he could get the proper audience to reveal his real plan to. Sigyn had chimed in perfectly to set it all up. He’d have to get her a nice present after this. Perhaps some of those Xandarian sweet cakes she so enjoyed.

“They’re back,” Son of Coul said a few moments before the elevator popped open and out walked Rogers, Thor, and the Doctor Foster.

The diminutive woman looked around at all the super-powered people and had a moment of being overwhelmed. But to her credit, she squared her shoulders and stood there as if she belonged among them. Yes, a little polish and she would make a fine Queen. 

“This must be Jane,” Stark stood and walked over to the woman. “You’re an expert in astrophysics, right?”

“Yes.” Foster scrunched her brow a bit, glancing over at Loki as she address Stark. Loki wondered how much Thor and Rogers had told her.

“When this is all over,” Stark continued, “you, me, and Bruce should get together and talk shop. Give us twenty minutes and we can probably make our own Einstein-Rosen Bridge.”

Foster’s eyes instantly tracked to Stark, looking straight at the light blue glow under his Black Sabbath t-shirt. “A reliable power source has been a bit of a hurdle.”

“I think I can do something about that.” Stark grinned.

“You realize physics is not my area of expertise,” Banner spoke up from across the room.

“Then you can be the mascot.” Stark waved him off. 

“Or the chaperone,” Romanoff said dryly.

“Talk shop later.” Rogers gestured towards Loki and both Thor and Jane walked forward as Loki stood from the counter.

“Jane,” Thor said as they approached, “this is my brother, Loki.”

“Please to me—” Loki was cut off as Jane slapped him across the face. It wasn’t that it actually hurt, it was more of the surprise that stung.

“How dare you!” The woman yelled at him. “How dare you invade our planet just so you can emotionally manipulate your brother!”

“Ah, Jane,” Thor started to move between them, “I think you have this wrong.”

“Do I?” Jane didn’t take his eyes off Loki. “I’ve been doing my research and even if only half of what is in our Norse Mythology books are right, then Loki isn’t doing this for you.” She boldly poked Loki in the breast plate. “You have an agenda that you’re not telling us. Which fine, okay, a lot of people have ulterior motives for doing things, but you invaded our planet, put lives at risk, and you’re making Thor think it’s basically his fault.”

“Interesting theory.” Loki outwardly stayed nonplussed while his mind raced that this Midgardian had figured him out. Though she couldn’t know why he was doing it. “And normally you would be right.”

“Yes… she would.” Thor realized the truth in her words. He had been so distracted earlier, by design, that he hadn’t realized that this was just another one of Loki’s games.

Loki had underestimated the mortal woman, a tactical error to be sure. But it was good to know he would be putting someone on the throne with a high level of intelligence and the will to use it. He was beginning to understand how the mortal had tamed the god.

“Lady Sigyn,” the Captain called out to her, “does Loki have an ulterior motive here?”

She sighed, “Of course he does. It’s Loki.”

Loki gave her a disapproving frown. “Thank you for that, Sigyn.”

“They’ll figure it out eventually.” She spread her hands wide. 

“Figure what out?” Thor looked between them. 

That what Loki was about to say was another piece of the game? That this was part of the contingency that he had set up with Sigyn? That he and Sigyn were entirely too clever for their own good?

“It doesn’t change anything,” Loki looked to Thor and hid his grin, “because you love Jane. I wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t.”

“Loki,” Thor took a step forward, “speak plainly!”

“I hate our farther!” Loki said as loudly and plainly as he could. “You know I’m always trying to find ways to annoy him.”

“You invaded Earth,” Jane looked at him incredulously, “just to annoy your father?”

“Not just because,” Loki assured her in an almost childish tone before turning back to Thor. “When I saw you were in love, I knew what I could to do help but wasn’t sure if I should. Then when I realized how much it would annoy father to see you live happily with a Midgardian, and how rankled he’d get if you took a non-Asgardian as Queen… well… I believe that’s a win-win.”

The Captain shook his head. “You still invaded a planet.”

“It’s just Midgard.” Honestly, when would these mortals realize they weren’t all that special? They still relied on combustible engines for Valhalla’s sake.

Thor gave him that look, one of the few things he inherited from his mother. It was kind of a mix between pride and disapproval. Like he wanted to be mad at him, but at the same time could understand and respect what happened. After all, it wasn’t like Thor hadn’t also done things just to annoy or piss off their father. Though usually Thor’s wasn’t so elaborate.

That’s why Loki chose hating their father as his fall back in case he was called out. If he had explained the truth, that all he really wanted was for Thor to procreate so that he could, then he had no idea how Thor would react. People get kind of defensive when they are compared to breeding stock, even if they are hopelessly in love with their partner. 

The subject of their father and his parenting skills was a sore enough spot to sound legitimate and need no further explanation. It also helped that it was the truth. As he said… the whole situation was win-win.

“So,” Jane frowned at him, “you want me to marry Thor?”

“I can’t force you to marry Thor,” Loki said, then a thought came to him. He looked over at Sigyn with a questioning glance. She mouthed a very firm ‘NO’ and he turned back to Jane. “I cannot force you to marry Thor, but I am giving you the option to do so where before you had none.”

“Couldn’t they get married on Earth?” Hawkguy asked.

“Asgard would not recognize the marriage,” Loki told him because he had considered it. He struck it down as an option because it was possible that any children the two had would not be recognized as heirs. Loki didn’t want to risk it.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rogers cut in, “because that’s not part of what we negotiated.”

“Too right.” Loki nodded. “In return for dispatching the Chitauri and ending my bid to take over your planet, at least two-thirds of Midgard must recognize Doctor Jane Foster, in an official capacity through ratified law, as Empress of Midgard.”

Jane blinked at him. “Empress… of Midgard?”

“It’s an empty title, of course,” Loki continued to explain. “You will have no governing rights, monetary tributes, that kind of thing. But should any member of the Asgardian Court come asking, then all the major governments will have to recognize you as Empress.”

“It’s also an inheritable title,” Sigyn added. “If you choose to have children, with Thor or any other, then your heirs will gain the title upon your passing.”

“Oh yes, that too.” Loki smiled, it was an important part of the scheme. He had to ensure that any heir of Thor’s would be able to claim not one, but two distinct titles: King (or Queen) of Asgard and Empress (or Emperor) of Midgard. It was most impressive.

Of course, this all assumed that Jane and Thor even decided to marry. This whole thing could backfire on him as it forced the idea of marriage on them. It could be far too soon for that. But in this case, the reward outweighed the risk.

“Do I have a choice?” Jane asked him but then looked to the Captain. “Can I refuse to take this title?”

“You can choose not to recognize it,” Rogers told her, “but the President has already signed an Executive Order to the effect. As has Canada’s Prime Minister.”

“And the Queen,” Son of Coul piped in, “of England, that is. She thought it was all kind of romantic.”

“See,” Hawkguy said, “didn’t I say it was romantic?”

“So, there you have it,” Loki smiled at her, “you being here is just a formality.”

“Not exactly,” Rogers reminded him.

“Oh, yes.” Loki looked to Sigyn. “Can you please have the Chitauri commander withdrawal his men peacefully back through the portal and ensure payment has been made?”

“Right away,” Sigyn said as she started to tap away at her tablet. 

“Leave the portal open though,” he looked back at Rogers, “until we have our two-thirds.”

The Captain nodded at him, this was what they negotiated. As a sign of good faith on SHEILD’s end, they got the President to sign the executive order and started the ball rolling. Then as a further sign of good faith on Loki’s end, once he saw that they were serious about granting Jane the title, he would withdrawal his troops off planet.

Within a few minutes, the Chitauri started to rise up into the sky and head back into the portal. Most of those in the penthouse watched from the large windows. Loki instead watched his brother and Jane via the reflection in the glass. They were standing at the back of room, talking. There was no anger there, at least not at each other. So that was a good sign.

After a moment, Thor kissed his lady love and then held her close. Loki couldn’t help but to feel happy for his brother. 

Everything was going so well.

…

“NO!” Odin bellowed. “I absolutely forbid it!”

“She is the Empress of Midgard,” Thor told his father. “Even the Royal Court has seen the value of this title!”

“Empress she may be,” Odin was staunch in his command, “but I will not allow you to marry a mortal!” 

“I love her, father,” Thor was just as bullheaded. “I love her and I will marry her. With or without your blessing.”

Thor stormed off and Odin made a genuinely dismissive sound before also leaving the throne room. Loki rubbed his scrunched brow and quelled a slightly murderous rage that had overcome him. 

All that work… all the planning… all the contingencies… 

Loki took a deep breath.

He had made Thor worthy of Mjolnir.

He had made Jane worthy of the Royal Court. 

Now all he had to do was make Jane worthy of Odin… by seemingly making her not-mortal anymore.

That, or murder Odin.

But that would probably upset mother. 

This may take a little more thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story's not over yet... what's Loki to do now?


	8. The Planning

“Man, and I thought sciencey stuff was hard,” Darcy was flipping through pages among pages of wedding planning books, catalogues, and brochures. “Who even cares what color the napkins are? When I go to weddings, I just want to know if there’s a bar and if it’s open.”

“Stark is fitting the bill,” Jane mumbled as she stared pensively at a couple sheets of paper, “so I’m sure there will be.”

Darcy glanced over at her friend and simultaneously felt happy and sad for her. 

On one hand, Jane not only just won the freaking Noble Prize for being hella smart, but she was going to marry a literal Prince. A Prince who happens to be friends with Tony I-Have-More-Money-and-Less-Sense-Than-God Stark who decided to give them a wedding present which was basically ‘just charge everything to me and let the accountants sort it out’. 

Oh, and Jane was now the honest-to-goodness Empress of Midgard! How freaking snazzy is that? 

“Sea bass,” Jane was still mumbling as she was looking over the reception dinner menu options, “sea bass… sea bass… sea… bass…”

And here was the sad part. Jane was not taking well to become a celebrity which was why they were hiding out at her mom’s house. The whole Loki incident had made it onto the web and now everyone was talking about the Empress of Midgard, her Asgardian Prince, and the banana-balls crazy brother who would do anything to see them happy. Many thought it romantic, some thought it emotionally abusive, but everyone had to have their say.

There was even a TV movie already in the works. 

And you would think having unlimited money for the wedding of your dreams would be awesome. It is, until you realize the wedding of your dreams involves a very small group of people in a nice quite venue. Instead of the hundreds of people who somehow made it onto their guest list. There was also the very real paparazzi who were going to try to crash it despite warnings from the very deadly Black Widow to not even think about it.

Yeah… knowing that someone was probably going to die at the Black Widow’s hand while you’re saying your ‘I Do’s’ does put a damper on things.

Darcy didn’t know what to say. She had already suggested eloping, even Loki was all for that, but Jane said no. Thor was already risking his very birthright to marry her, so they were going to do it right. Jane just wished they didn’t have to do it so big. 

Yawning, even though it wasn’t lunchtime yet, Darcy got up to get a cup of coffee. On the way to the kitchen she passed Jane’s work study. It had dozens of calculations and sciencey stuff tacked up on the wall. Much of Jane’s equipment lay scattered about in various pieces. She had managed to get most of it back from SHIELD. Though only because they wanted to play nice with Jane after the whole Loki incident. 

SHIELD didn’t seem to want to take the chance that making Jane unhappy, and therefore making Thor unhappy, would lead Loki to invade the planet again. At least not until SHIELD had proper defenses or some such. 

But Darcy never did get her iPod back.

She’s not ever going to forgive them for that.

One of the boxes on the desk was beeping softly. Darcy picked it up and tried to remember what it did. It had something to do with the Einstein-Rosen Bridge and the Bifrost. It detected some kind of particle waves or some other Star Trekkie stuff. Jane hadn’t stepped foot in the room for the past few days due to wedding planning, so who knew how long it had been beeping.

Grabbing the box, Darcy went back into the living room and plopped it in front of Jane who startled a little. “It’s making a noise.”

“I can see that, or hear that,” Jane said with a frown as she picked it up and started messing with it.

“What does it mean?” Darcy asked, hoping to get Jane’s mood lifted with some science.

“It means…” Jane trailed off as she adjusted the controls and squinted a bit. The scientist then very scientifically banged it on the table a few times. She then frowned at what she saw on the screen. 

Darcy knew that look. “Should I get the car keys?”

“Ah… no,” Jane put it down, “the wedding planner is going to be by in an hour and I have to…” her voice trailed off as she looked across all the wedding stuff. Thor offered to help but he literally had no preferences as Midgardian weddings were not the same as Asgardian. He just wanted Jane to be happy. Anything she wanted he would oblige. 

Darcy had joking said that the guy wears the dress and he just said ‘okay’. Loki had been there and mumbled ‘wouldn’t be the first time’. 

“Are you sure?” Darcy asked again as she picked up the box and twirled it in her hands.

After a moment, Jane got the little spark back in her eyes. “Let’s go.”

…

Darcy wasn’t sure who was going to kill her first, Thor or Loki. She says first because she was pretty sure the Asgardians would find a way to kill her, bring her back, and kill her again. All because she lost Jane.

While Darcy and some local kids played with a rip in space, Jane had wander off. Then when Darcy went to look for her, she couldn’t find her. She tried her cell several times, no answer, nor did Darcy hear its annoying ringtone. The kids scattered about and they couldn’t find her either. 

Eventually the cops showed up because Jane and Darcy were technically trespassing. Darcy told them her friend had gone missing. She said her friend’s name was ‘Natalie’. It was the first name Darcy could think of that wasn’t Jane Foster. Last thing she needed was the press to show up.

“Darcy?” She turned around to see Jane walking out of one of the buildings a little flushed. 

“Where have you been?” Darcy was so relieved to know that her friend was alive and therefore she was not going to be murdered by enraged Norse gods. 

“How long was I gone?” Jane was looking up at the sky which was now overcast and dimmer.

“Like four hours,” Darcy looked over her friend, there was no obvious wounds or anything. “Where did you go?”

Jane started to laugh excitedly. “You won’t believe it. Or maybe you will. Doesn’t matter. But I think I got swept up in a singularity which transported me to another realm. There was all these floating rocks. No visible light sources but it wasn’t pitch black. There was oxygen, which was astounding. I mean, what are the chances?”

As Jane rambled on, it started to downpour. Habitually, Darcy pulled her coat tight to ward off the rain. Except it wasn’t raining… on them.

“Thor!” Jane said as she looked past Darcy. Seeing that her prince had arrived, Jane walked towards him. “I need to pick your brain. I think I found a spatial rift. Do you know of any realms where…”

Darcy didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying because the rain bubble they were in moved with Jane. Suddenly Darcy was caught in the downpour and she tightened her coat even more. “Typical.”

Thor seemed to realize what happened and the rain stopped altogether. He then looked to Jane and said, “I believe you fell into the Dark World. Hemidall lost sight of you.”

“The Dark World?” Jane questioned.

“Hey,” one of the cops that was helping with the search came forward, “is this the woman who was missing? Thought you said her name was Natalie. That’s Jane Foster.”

“Oh, really,” Darcy said innocently, “you sure?”

“Natalie?” Jane gave Darcy a quizzical look which she returned with a shrug. 

“I panicked,” Darcy told her, “things happen.”

“Well, I don’t care who you are,” the cop glanced over at Thor, “or who you’re dating. You were trespassing on private property. To not mention all the time wasted looking for you.”

“No, see, I can explain,” Jane told the cop. “There is actually a very important spatial anomaly going on right now that needs to be studied.”

“Whatever, we can discuss this downtown.” The cop went to grab Jane’s shoulder to tug her towards the police car. It was hella rude but didn’t look all that forceful, as these things go. But the next thing Darcy knew, a deep red blast of something not natural shot out of Jane and knocked the cop down.

“What the hell?!” Darcy shouted as Jane stumbled a bit.

“Jane,” Thor held her to keep her from falling, “what else happened in the Dark World. What did you see?”

“Well,” she cleared her head, “there was this free flowing vicious liquid that kinda attacked me.”

And Jane’s just now telling them this because…?

Thor pulled Jane even closer and looked up into the sky. “Hemidall. Open the Bifrost!”

The brightly colored light shot down and the two were gone with nothing but scorch marks on the ground. Now Darcy was left alone with some really annoyed cops who wanted answers.

Still better than wedding planning.

…

“We’ve been through this, Loki,” Sigyn sighed as she sat down the book she was reading. “Odin has long forbidden anyone but Asgardian to eat of the Golden Apples. And besides, Idunn is not likely to help you. She hasn’t forgiven you for the whole nut incident.”

“She got better,” Loki told her then shook his head. “I’m sure I can find a way to get Idunn to earmark a Golden Apple for Jane at the next harvest.”

Sigyn doubted that, but, if it were true, then, “How are you going to cover up the fact Jane’s immortality was gained through a Golden Apple? It has a distinctive magical residue. Odin will lock you both up for treason.”

There had once came a time when many would beg, cheat, steal, and even murder for a Golden Apple to either consume or be given to another. Individuals would hoard them to use as currency. Others would beg outside Idunn’s garden like pitiful pilgrims wasting their lives in hope of extending it. 

Odin had declared that no one but Asgardian could eat of the Golden Apples. Idunn complied and as she harvested them. She insured that only Asgardian blood would reap the benefits of their magic. This isn’t to say she couldn’t make one available for Jane Foster, but she would have to willingly do it. They couldn’t just sneak into the garden and pluck an apple. Idunn was the only one who knew their secrets.

“I’m working on it,” the prince mumbled and went back to reading the ancient tome. 

Sigyn wanted to say something but she wasn’t sure exactly what to say, let alone how she’d say it. Loki was becoming too obsessed with the whole situation. It was turning troublesome. 

“M’lord,” a servant boy came into the room, “your brother, Thor, requests your presence in the healers ward”

Loki let out a tiresome sigh. “What has he gone and done this time? Tried to drink an ocean again and made himself sick?”

“No, m’lord,” the servant tried not to smile and remain composed, “it is the Empress Jane.”

“What about her?” Loki’s head popped up.

“She is ill,” the boy explained.

Loki hadn’t needed to hear anything more. He rushed from the room towards the healing ward and Sigyn followed closely on his heels. When they made it into the private room, Jane was lying in a Soul Forge and explaining to Thor that it was a quantum field generator.

While Thor told Loki about Jane disappearing into the Dark World for a short time, Sigyn took a look at the readouts from the Soul Forge. It did indeed look like Jane’s very molecules were being broken down slowly. There was very few substances in all the Realms which could do such a thing. Sigyn almost thought… no… that can’t be right.

Odin came into the room, he and Thor argued. The King respectfully (not really) asked the ‘Empress’ to return to her own planet. When Odin went to grab her to get her off the table, a red force shot from Jane’s body and knocked the king back. There were spikes from the readings in the Soul Forge and Jane collapsed.

“It cannot be…” Odin looked at Jane curiously as Thor went to check on the woman who looked to be a little light headed. “You found the Aether.”

“The Aether?” Loki spoke up first. “Malekith’s Aether? The bloody Infinity Stone?”

“Come,” Odin said and left the room before being acknowledged.

Sigyn downloaded all the Soul Forge readings before following behind the brothers and Jane. She already knew what the Aether was so she read through the Soul Forge data as Odin explained the history of Malekith and the Aether. The Aether was indeed an Infinity Stone, but its resting stated was in a liquid/ethereal form. 

“How do we get it out of her?” Thor asked once Odin was done with the story.

“We don’t,” Odin shook his head. “The Aether has taken her as a host. It will consume her and then look for another.”

“But Malekith was said to be able to weld it,” Thor pointed out. “That means it can be controlled. We can remove it.”

“Perhaps,” Odin reluctantly agreed, “but that’s old dark magic. We couldn’t hope to find its secrets in time. No, the woman must be removed to a safe place, the Aether contained.”

Thor would hear nothing of it and so father and son continued to arge. Odin was sure there was nothing that could be done but Thor would not accept that. Loki sided with this brother, and not just to be contrary to Odin. Jane got weak and sat down. Sigyn continued to read over the information available to her.

“I know that look,” Loki came up beside Sigyn, “what do you know?”

Sigyn took a second to be sure, then said, “Jane should be dead.”

“She’s dying,” Loki pointed out.

“But why so slowly?” Sigyn frowned as she chewed her bottom lip. “Every story of someone coming in direct contact with an Infinity Stone ends the same way, near instant death. In fact, recently there was an explosion at Knowhere when someone touched a stone. Then it took four individuals to weld the same stone on Xandar.”

“Ah, yes,” Loki nodded, “the Ronan incident.”

“Yes.” Sigyn watched Thor pull Jane close, but the Stone inside her did not react. It had been protecting her earlier against Odin who was more hostile towards her. “I need to do some more research. Do not let Jane leave here.”

“Should be easy enough.” Loki gestured to where Thor was leading Jane away, his arm wrapped around her protectively. 

“I’ll let you know when I find something,” she told Loki and then headed deeper into the archives. 

Time passed and Sigyn scoured the tomes for the answers she sought. She studied and cross referenced everything she had, including Jane’s DNA profile. She also put a request into the Nova Corps for Quill’s profile. They really shouldn’t have given it to her, patient confidentiality and all that, but a few individuals owed her favors. 

After a lot of careful thought, Sigyn believed she had it figured out. It was the only thing that made sense.

But then the alarms sounded… Asgard was under attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am playing a little with the timeline here but this an AU and... reasons... ;-)


	9. The Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this is so late! I swear it's Loki's fault... it's always Loki's fault.

Loki drove his sword into one of the Dark Elves and booted him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he could see several Elves gang up on Thor who was swatting them away with Mjolnir. It looked like Thor had it well in hand, but Loki reached into the void and grabbed a dagger. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he threw the dagger at one of the Dark Elves’ throat. It was one less for his brother to deal with.

Turning his attention back to the Dark Elves who were closer to him, Loki used an illusion to confuse them. He then stabbed one in the back and threw the body into another. It had been awhile since he had such a good and rowdy fight. It did wonders to sate his recent homicidal urges brought about by the constant frustrations. Sigyn would be proud of him that he hadn’t completely gone into a complete berserker rage.

Sigyn!

Last he saw of her she was in the Archives housed deep in the palace which was currently under attack. As he threw two daggers for a double kill, Loki became torn. He, Thor, the Warriors and Sif, were fighting off the main hoard of invaders. He couldn’t just leave to go check on Sigyn to make sure she was okay. He had a duty to Asgard to route the Dark Elves before the invasion spread outside the palace. 

Sigyn was smart, she had magic, she’d be okay. She had to be. If anything happened to her, he’d… well… he’d hunt down and slaughter every last Dark Elf in the nine realms, slowly, intimately, until they couldn’t beg for mercy through the pain.

Okay… that was a little more violence in his stream of consciousness than usual…

“Why are they attacking?” Volstagg said after he knocked a Dark Elf down with his battle axe.

“They’re probably after something,” Sif replied as she swung her double blade around and cleaved an Elf in two.

“The Aether!” Loki said as Thor yelled, “Jane!”

“Go!” Sif told them. “We have this.”

Thor only hesitated momentarily, then headed towards the stairs to the upper chambers of the palace. The Warriors and Sif did indeed have things in hand, so Loki used this as an excuse to break out of the battle. He would go with Thor to make sure Jane was safe. Jane was important to his plans, plus it was highly possible Sigyn would be with her.

Jane had been left in the care of their mother as Odin went to oversee the battle, Thor and Loki diving into the fight. They raced towards the rooms where they had left Frigga and Jane. When they got to the hallway, they found it the royal guards strune across the ground. Fearing the worse, they doubled their pace and burst through the heavy doors.

Their mother was being held by large, somewhat deformed, Dark Elf while Malekith himself was threatening Frigga with a blade, yelling at her, “WITCH!”

Thor brought his hammer up to call forth lightening but there was a flash of bright light as Frigga released a burst of magic. Malekith stumbled back and the larger Elf loosened his grip enough for her to twirl and throw her elbow against him to push him away. Lightening shot through the room, striking Malekith and knocking him down as his face was struck. Loki went for the other intruder, skewering him with his sword.

“I had everything well in hand,” Frigga said as the Elf slumped to the ground.

“We know mother, but what are sons for?” Loki kissed her on the cheek and turned back towards Thor and Malekith. His brother had laid Mjolnir on the Dark Elf’s chest to subdue the man. 

“How do we control the Aether!” Thor nearly bellowed, his hand around Malekith’s throat.

“You don’t,” Malekith tried to laugh but was apparently having issues breathing. 

“The Doctor is down the hall,” Frigga told one of the new guards that came into the room, “make sure she stays there. We cannot let her near Malekith.”

“He can draw the Aether out of her,” Thor looked up at them with hope as the guard went for Jane.

“And use it against us.” Frigga gave a sad frown. “We cannot allow Malekith to control the Aether. The destruction he would reign down on all the realms-”

“Is not worth saving one life,” Thor finished the thought heavily. He was thinking like a king now, though it looked to have broken his heart to do so. With a growl, he punched a grinning Malekith in the face, knocking him out cold. “Bring manacles,” Thor gestured to one of the other guards, “we need to safely secure Malekith in the dungeons.”

“Anyone seen Sigyn?” Loki asked as the guards bustled around the fallen Dark Elf. Thor shook his head no. His mother gave him a strange look, like he was missing a joke, but not quite that. “I’m going to go look for her.”

“What about the rest of the invasion fleet?” Thor asked and Loki inwardly grumbled. He needed to make sure his friend was okay, not babysit the very capable Warriors Three and Sif.

“Their leader is captured,” Loki pointed out, “that should put the fight out of them.”

The guards hauled Malekith’s body up, after Thor removed Mjolnir, and the older brother said, “I will see that Malekith is secured. Go to father, tell him what has happened, and end this battle. Mother, can you continue to watch Jane?”

“Of course,” she replied with a nod of her head.

“And send some guards to locate Sigyn for Loki,” Thor glanced over at him, “so he doesn’t worry.”

“She’s perfect capable of taking care of herself,” Loki dismissed his brother’s words. 

All Thor did was share a look with their mother who again nodded her acceptance of the task. After a moment hesitation, Loki did as he was instructed and went to find Odin so they could spread the news of Malekith. It took a few minutes for the Dark Elves to realize their invasion was failing and their leader captured, but once they did, they started to surrender themselves.

It was all rather boring.

Loki followed his father back to the royal suites once the palace was once again secured. He found his mother, Jane, even Thor, but no Sigyn. “Where’s Sigyn?”

“Still in the archives,” Frigga assured him. “She’s on her way actually, she said she found something of import.”

“Oh,” he nodded, a sense of relief washing over him, though he didn’t really understand why because he knew she could take care of herself, “good.”

Jane was looking weak, she collapsed a bit and Thor cradled her in his arms. Loki had to admit, for as much as Jane played into his plans for his own happiness… if she died, it would devastate his brother and he couldn’t help but feel sorrow for that. 

“You’re all here,” Sigyn said as she walked into the room, a tablet and cube in her hand. Loki smiled, glad that his friend was okay.

“You said you found something?” Thor’s head popped up. “You know how to control the Aether?”

“Yes and no,” Sigyn admitted, going over to Jane and squatting beside her. “I just need one last piece of data before I can know for sure if I’m right.”

Sigyn ran the cube across Jane and then brought up a holographic display. Jane asked, “Is that a tricorder?”

“Basically, works on the same principle,” Loki answered because everyone else wasn’t sure what she was asking. Everyone looked to him and he shrugged. “Stark had all the episodes queued up in his penthouse. I get bored easily, you know this.”

“It seems I’m right,” Sigyn said as she stood. “We’ve got this wrong. Jane isn’t dying, she’s transforming.”

“Transforming?” Thor and Jane both said at the same time. Jane continued with, “Into what?”

“A suitable host for the Aether,” Sigyn explained though it wasn’t much of an explanation.

“The Aether consumes,” Odin reminded them, “that’s why Malekith wanted to use it to bury the realms in darkness.”

“Yes,” Sigyn nodded, “but the Aether is an Infinity Stone. While they are powerful, they are not mechanical. They are as organic as anything else. They even have a level of sentience, much like Mjolnir.”

“Are you saying Jane is worthy of an Infinity Stone?” Thor reasoned out what Sigyn was saying.

“Again, yes and no,” Sigyn frowned. Normally she was very good at articulating herself but was having trouble with this. “I did some research and one of the Guardians who was able to hold on to one of the Infinity Stones for a short time was half-Midgardian, half-something else, something old, perhaps something already touched by an Infinity Stone.”

“Something already transformed?” Jane continued the thought.

“Or something the Stones were already familiar with,” Sigyn nodded. “The point is, it does look like you’re dying, but what is actually happening is demolition. For whatever reason, the Aether has chosen you as its host. It’s making room to be able to set properly in your veins, in your very essence.”

“That’s why it was lashing out,” the doctor said as her mind seemed to race. “It wasn’t protecting itself, it was protecting me.”

“Once it settles and you create a more symbiotic relationship,” Sigyn continued as everyone digested that information, “you’ll be able to weld the Aether yourself. It won’t be completely acquiesce, it does have a mind of its own, but its power would be yours.”

“An organic, energy based, parasite, with reality warping abilities,” Jane got a little wide eyed, “I’m gonna get another freaking Nobel.”

“What of the cost?” Thor asked, worried creases around the edges of his eyes. “It’s transforming her, giving her powers. Power always comes at a cost.”

“That… I don’t know.” Sigyn frowned at him. “Only time will tell.”

…

Time did pass, three whole Midgardian months, though that wasn’t long to someone who lived for thousands of years. At first it looked like Jane was truly just dying. She got weaker, started to pass out more, and was seeing visions. But then she took another turn and her health stabilized with some interesting after affects.

“So she’s not mortal anymore,” Loki said once Sigyn was finished with her final analysis.

“That’s not what I said.” She made a face at him.

“That’s basically what you said.” Loki was insistent.

“She is the host, the container of an Infinity Stone,” Sigyn sighed as she explained again, “so as long as she still carries the Aether, it will keep her alive and healthy.”

“So she’s not mortal anymore,” Loki said again.

Sigyn rubbed her forehead and groaned.

“This is perfect,” Loki clapped his hands together, “Jane is the Empress of Midgard, Immortal, and welding the power of an Infinity Stone. Odin has to accept her now!”

The prince turned on his heels and headed out of the room towards the gardens. Sigyn followed and she spotted Thor sitting with Jane. Their body language was that of something personal, perhaps even intimate, and so Sigyn grabbed Loki’s arm to stop him. Loki gave her a perturbed look, but when she gestured towards the couple, he recognized that this was a more prudent move. 

But Loki was not perfect and he called up a spell to make their voices travel on the winds towards them so they could hear what they were talking about.

“We can teach you how to harness the Aether,” Thor was telling her.

“Harness it for what?” Jane replied, shaking her head. “To be an Avenger? Go around blasting things? That’s not me, Thor.”

“You’ve been given a great gift,” the man frowned, “you can use it to help others.”

“And I will,” she laid her hand on his cheek. “The Aether has opened up so much to me. I can work towards building a better world on Earth. But not as a warrior, not even as a god. It will always be about the science.”

“You mean magic,” he replied but his voice seemed far away. 

“My science, your magic,” she bowed her head. “I care a lot about you, Thor, you know that. But we come from two very different worlds, perhaps they are separate for a reason?”

Thor looked as if he was going to speak, his mouth opening slightly as he stared down at his love. He then closed his eyes for a moment, perhaps choking back tears. His large hand reached under her chin to look into her eyes. Leaning down he kissed her, softly and gently. It wasn’t full of passion, but there was love. 

There was regret.

“Bollocks,” Loki mumbled under his breath as he realized what this meant. There was a distinct possibility that Thor and Jane were going to break up. 

Sigyn wrapped her arm around Loki’s bicep in a vice grip and hauled him back inside.

“Don’t,” she told him firmly once they were secluded in an alcove. 

“It shouldn’t take much,” Loki assured her. “I just need to remind them how much they love each other and—”

“No!” Sigyn cut him off. “No more, Loki. You will end your interference and let this play out.”

“But—”

“Loki Odinson,” she used his full name so he knew she was serious this time. “I have helped you with your crazy schemes this whole time because, at the heart of it, you were thinking of your brother and his happiness.” She took a breath and he kept silent, watching her. “Yes, it was ultimately about you, but you didn’t have to help Jane, but you did because you couldn’t ruin his happiness.”

“Happiness he’s about to throw away,” Loki gestured back towards the garden. 

“Then let that be his choice.” Sigyn closed her eyes for a second and gathered her thoughts. “Sometimes, sometimes love isn’t enough. And sometimes happiness is knowing you did the right thing by the one you care about. Even if that means not being with them.”

“I don’t understand.” He looked at her with genuine confusion. 

“You will, one day, when you finally fall in love with someone,” she tried to keep the sadness out of her voice as he scrutinized her. “Until then, you trust me, right?”

“You know I do, Sigyn.” Loki knitted his brow as he tried to understand her words. “You’re the only one I can trust, truly.”

“Then trust me when I say that if you care about your brother at all,” she placed her hands on his shoulders, “then you will let this play out. If they stay together, or if they break up, you respect their decision.”

He watched her for a very long moment and she was afraid she had revealed too much of herself in the conversation. But then he let out a long breath and nodded. “Fine. I will stay out of it. Mostly. At lot… for me. You know I can’t help myself sometimes.”

“I know.” Sigyn ran her hands down his arms and gave him a friendly squeeze. “Now, let’s leave them to their discussion. Why don’t we go terrorize the Royal Court with some parlor tricks, huh?”

“You always know how to cheer me up.” Loki smiled thankfully at her.

“I know,” she said and looped her arm in his as they walked away from the gardens towards the Royal Court chambers. 

“You speak so wisely, Sigyn,” Loki said as they went along, “have you ever been in love yourself?”

“Yes,” she replied truthfully, no need to lie at that question.

“Did it end badly then?” He asked her as they turned down another hallway. “Do I need to hurt someone? Because you know I would. Just point me in the direction of anyone who’s wronged you and I’ll make them suffer.”

“I know, Loki,” she smiled at him, “but you need not worry.”

“Are you sure?” He didn’t seem to believe her.

“I’m sure.” She knew that Loki cared about her, she was his dearest friend, but he did not love her. 

Not like she loved him. 

Sometimes love isn’t enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I'm still pissed about Frigga in Dark World... I mean... seriously? That scene was just so stupid.


	10. The Package

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! Only one chapter left to go! :)

The Package

“It’s not my fault!” Loki was shouting as he ran over the rocky landscape at top speed, a tightly wrapped package clutched to his chest.

“Well,” the annoying Hawkguy was right beside him, “it’s someone’s fault!”

“Have you tried looking in a mirror?” Loki shouted and then they slid down an embankment.

“Can’t, you broke it with your mug,” Hawkguy yelled back as they skidded to a stop. All Loki could think of was how ridiculous the other man sounded. Why would Loki throw a mug at a mirror?

Above them, a Nova Corps ship pulled into a vertical landing, the wind kicking up around them. Before it even touched the ground, the rear hatch was open and the two jumped inside. 

“Go, go!” Hawkguy shouted.

“You get it?” the Captain of the Americas asked, the ship lurching as the thrusters went in reverse to propel them upwards.

“Of course,” Loki handed over the package, “no thanks to the vulgar one.”

“I had everything in hand,” Hawkguy defended himself, grabbing ahold of the bulkhead as the ship rocket slightly from being hit.

“You revealed my carefully crafted illusions!” Loki wondered how much trouble he’d get into if he stabbed the Midgardian. Probably a lot. It might be worth it. He’d have to do a cost-analysis later.

“Carefully crafted,” the man snorted, unimpressed.

“That’s enough, you two,” Rogers spoke sternly and Loki rolled his eyes, leaning back against the bulkhead. 

Loki didn’t even want to be there. But he had to admit that someone like Thanos actually making good on their threat of subjugating the entire Midgardian realm was problematic. If anything he’d have to listen to both Thor and Sigyn speak of it on end. How dull and boring. 

Now, stealing things… not so boring.

Well, when stupid hawk-persons aren’t messing things up.

It wasn’t long before they were off planet and winding their way through space to the main battlefield on Midgard. They had to come in from the side, through the outskirts of the main battle. The ship kept getting rocked side to side by Thanos’s forces, but they made it through thanks to the combined Nova Corps and Migardian military. This was good, because Loki would be rather embarrassed to die in such a way. 

“Just in time, brother,” Thor greeted him as they exited the ship which had landed on the S.W.O.R.D. space station in orbit around Midgard. “Thanos has made his approach.”

“With only half of the Infinity Stones?” Loki frowned. What would possess the man to attack when he’s clearly at a disadvantage? Not very bright of him.

“Aye,” Thor said and the group went through several decks to the bridge.

“That it?” The green-haired Director Brand said as they entered. She was standing along with the Doctor Foster, as well as the one named Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and the other annoyingly vulgar one, Star-Bright. 

“Did you ever doubt me?” Loki said with a self-appreciative smile.

“I helped.” Hawkguy nudged him in the shoulder.

“I’d hardly call that helping.” Loki nudged him back.

“Here you go, Quill.” Rogers ignored them and placed the package in the Star-Bright’s hands. He pulled the silver ball out of the cloth bag and promptly dropped it as it slipped from his fingers.

“I got it,” Star-Bright said as he quickly grabbed it before it went rolling away.

Yes, this was the man ‘guarding the galaxy’. At least he was flanked by two people of relatively high intelligence. 

As Star-Bright opened the container to confirm that there was still an Infinity Stone inside, Loki watched his brother. Thor went to Jane and ran his hand across her cheek before kissing her gently. The two had managed to make things work, after a fashion. She continued her science, making great strides in Midgardian space technologies. He continued to fight alongside the Avengers to protect Midgard from all the new threats that turned their head towards the advancing world.

But they had yet to get married, let alone have a child.

But at least they were happy, right? That was the important part here? 

“Inbound,” someone shouted from the monitors.

“Go time, people,” Brand waved her hand and the group hurried up some stairs to an observation deck. Past the blast doors was an open area with only a force field to keep out the vacuum of space.

“Are you sure,” Thor asked Jane as Loki walked behind them.

“I have to do this,” Jane assured him.

Standing on the observation deck, they could see the battle of ships blasting each other in the blackness of space. One large ship had busted through the line and was heading straight for the station. 

“Now or never, folks,” Brand said as Jane, Vision, and Star-Bright walked forward, “I hope this works.”

“It will work,” Vision said in his very polite tone, a soft nod of his head, his hand gently resting on the Witch’s cheek.

“Of course it will,” Star-Bright grinned as he opened the silver container again. 

“Because it has to,” as Jane spoke, her eyes turned completely blood red as the Aether inside of her came forth.

The three of them then faced the incoming ship, standing near shoulder to shoulder, Star-Bright in the middle. Yellow and Red swirled around them as the two hosts called forth the power that they held. Star-Bright took hold of the Power Infinity Stone and became a temporary host as his body was able to contain the power for a short time. Long enough to hopefully dispatch Thanos. 

They began to float in the air as the power of the stones swirled about, whipping up a huge wind storm in the small area. Sirens starts to wail and Brand began to shout about the force-field becoming compromised. Loki knew his brother wouldn’t leave Jane so he quickly grabbed him and jerked him back behind the blast doors before Thor could put up a resistance. 

Thor turned to him angrily, before then realizing that his love had an Infinity Stone inside her. A little space vacuum would do nothing to her. Thanos on the other hand…

Brand brought up the display from inside the room on a wall monitor. They could see nothing but the swirling of the three colors. Tapping the display, she then showed the outside cameras. A blast of energy was emanating from the station and had struck a similar blast coming from Thanos’s ship. It was now a battle of will, their three stones versus Thanos’s three stones, welded in the Infinity Gauntlet.

There was a flash of super bright white light and everyone had to shield their eyes, even Loki. When the scene cleared and the cameras were able to refocus, all they saw in space was Thanos’s ship listing, near dark itself, seemingly without any power.

“They did it,” the Witch was the first to comment.

“I want ships all over that,” Brand was barking orders. “If anyone is still left alive on that ship, I want them captured.”

“Jane,” Thor said and rushed back towards the observation deck, the Witch on his heels. 

Loki followed, mostly because he didn’t want to get volunteered into the boarding parties that Rogers was starting to put together. When they got there, a technician told Thor that the force-field was still down but it should back up in a moment. Once it was up, then they had to cycle the atmosphere. They couldn’t see into the deck because the cameras there had literally shorted out beyond repair, on this side at least. 

The doors finally opened and Thor rushed inside.

Other than looking very tired, and with very mussy hair, the three of them looked no worse for wear. 

“Are you alright?” Thor asked Jane anyway as he wrapped his arms around her. 

“I’m good,” she told him, still panting slightly from the exertion. “I’m good.”

“You might want to let the doctors check you out regardless,” Vision spoke up, the synthoid looking up from where he had just embraced his girlfriend. 

“Yeah,” Star-Bright agreed, tossing the silver ball up into the air, the Power Stone presumably back inside it, “can’t be too careful in your condition.”

“Condition?” Thor caught on the word and Loki was also very curious. 

“You saw that?” Jane said wide-eyed at the other two. 

“Yes,” Vision spoke as Star-Bright nodded at her. Jane chewed her bottom lip and started to look a little green.

“Wait,” Star-Bright suddenly looked semi-ashamed, “you haven’t told him, have you?”

“Uh…” Jane laughed nervously.

Thor keep looking between them. “Tell me what?” 

“I didn’t tell you because I literally just found out three days ago,” Jane started to ramble in that way that Thor seemed to find endearing, “and I wasn’t sure you’d let me do this, with the Aether. But I had to do this, even though I hate violence. The Aether assured me that it would be okay.”

“Jane,” Thor put his arms on her shoulder to quiet her, “what are you saying?”

“I’m pregnant,” Jane blurted out. 

Everyone in the room, including the technicians who were working on making sure the force-field was stable, all paused at the declaration. Rogers had just entered the room, likely to volunteer them for a boarding party, and he too just stopped in his tracks next to Loki.

A large smile formed on Thor’s face and he said, “You’re with child?”

“Yes,” she nodded timidly, “you’re not mad are you?”

“Valhalla no!” Thor pulled her closer. “Farthest from!” 

The Asgardian embraced his love and kissed her soundly and passionately. It was such an embrace that everyone who was looking at them suddenly felt the urge to look away as if they were intruding on a very personal moment. 

Rogers leaned over slightly and said, “Guess this means you’re gonna be an uncle.”

“Yes.” A slow grin formed on Loki’s lips as he saw everything he wanted was now within in his grasp, and he didn’t have to trick or manipulate anyone to get it this time. “Yes, I am.”


	11. The Truth

The Truth

Thor stood in the center of the feasting hall with such a grin on his face one might have thought him Loki. 

After Jane had told him she was with child, they decided to finally make good on the wedding plans which had been put on hold. But this time they forwent the pomp and circumstance, having a small and intimate wedding on Midgard with just their friends. Director Fury officiated because apparently he legally could do so. This surprised nearly everyone, but was perhaps not as surprising as it should have been.

The ceremony on Asgard to officially recognize Jane as a Princess of Asgard was much larger of course, as tradition dictated. His father told him that day that he would be stepping down shortly after his grandchild was born. Shortly being five years to an Asgardian. Thor would then be crowned King, Jane Queen, and their child Heir-Apparent. 

Thor cared little for the politics of the situation. He was simply happy to be spending his time with Jane. While her life would be extended thanks to the Aether, there was no way to know for sure how long that would be. He rather spend this time with her as if it could be their last.

Their child was only born a fortnight ago, a strong and healthy boy. Thor was most pleased that the Aether in Jane, and the mix of genetics, had done no ill to the child. Of course, he would have loved the child regardless, but he could not deny the relief he felt. So many things had gone wrong, and right, in the past few years, especially in his courtship of Jane, not to be cautious.

Speaking of which…

“Loki,” Thor found his brother walking across the room from where the trickster had been chatting with Vision, “a word?”

Thor had invited their friends from Midgard up to Asgard to celebrate the birth of his son. He had to send two whole cadre of Asgardian soldiers to Midgard to keep it safe while all its heroes were off planet. The villains of Midgard weren’t stupid, they knew a golden opportunity when they saw one. 

“Yes, brother?” Loki said, coming to a halt. 

“I wanted to thank you again,” Thor grabbed two mugs of mead from a server walking past, passing one to Loki, “you were very attentive and helpful during Jane’s pregnancy.”

“Her pregnancy was unconventional,” he spoke of the fact that her gestation period turned out to be three months longer than a typical Midgardian. “If anyone knows of an unconventional pregnancy, it would be me.”

“Indeed.” Thor let out a small chuckle, smiling still. “I went to see Sleipnir, brought my son so he could meet his cousin.”

“Oh, I bet Sleipnir enjoyed that,” Loki said fondly before taking a pull of his mead. 

“I suspect he enjoyed the Vanaheim Oats I brought for him more,” Thor laughed, glancing idly to where Jane was sitting with their son, he found he would do that, a lot. “Though Sleipnir did say he would be happy to take the boy out once he is big enough to ride.”

“Sleipnir is used to being the only grandchild,” Loki said thoughtfully, but then smiled. “He will soon get used to it, once he realizes what trouble he can get into with a cousin as a partner in crime.”

“Of course your mind would go there,” Thor chuckled, patting him hard on the back. “Though I imagine he’ll have plenty of half-siblings to tear around with.”

“I suppose,” Loki was masterfully obtuse to the statement, “one day.”

“Do not think me addle, brother.” Thor had maneuvered them away from most of the crowd so they could speak privately. “Sleipnir was quite keen and assured me that he would be getting a sibling soon enough. It didn’t take much to figure out the rest. You speak so fondly of having children, but father’s rule keeps you from having an heir before me.”

“Thor—”

He cut Loki off with a hand gesture. “I am not here to berate you, brother. If anything I should thank you. I realize now what you were really trying to do that caused me to be banished to Midgard. If that hadn’t happened, I never would have met Jane.”

“It was a brilliant plan,” Loki admitted with a sigh, “just the execution needed work.”

“Aye,” Thor chuckled warmly. “Everything you did afterwards, the Destroyer—”

“Not my fault.”

“The invasion of Midgard,” Thor continued unabated, knowing the truth in his heart, “although I’m not sure how you pulled off the Aether.”

“Actually,” Loki let out a short slightly-embarrassed laugh, “that wasn’t me. I was trying to obtain a Golden Apple for Jane. The Aether was completely a product of Jane’s lack of self-preservation.”

Thor couldn’t help but swallow a laugh at that. He loved Jane, he truly did, but it often seemed she took more risks than he ever did, all in the name of scientific exploration. 

“Thank you, Loki.” Thor placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “However and whyever we got to where we are, I am glad we did.”

“You’re my brother,” Loki returned the gesture, “and your happiness is important to me. I honestly can’t stand being in your presence when you’re moping or brooding. It’s like listening to a dying Bildgesnipe.”

Thor let out a right bellow of a laugh, ruffling his brother’s hair fondly, much to Loki’s annoyance. 

“So, Loki,” Thor gave him a sly look, “do I know who the lucky mother, or father, will be? Though I am assuming an Asgardian, that is a bit specious of me, I admit.”

Loki went to open his mouth, then paused for a moment. “You know, Thor, I had spent so much time and effort in making sure you gained an heir so that I may… that I never did settle who would be my princess, or prince.”

There was too much honesty in Loki’s eyes for it not to be the truth. Leave it to his brother to plan, plot, and scheme, but not actually think ahead. Or maybe it was simpler than that? Perhaps Loki had already decided, but he hadn’t realized it.

“I imagine you are looking for someone with grace and poise,” Thor said, stepping a little to the right to change Loki’s light of sight, “and intelligence of course. Someone loyal and dutiful, but principled and clever.”

“Admirable traits, but I’m not looking for breeding stock,” Loki made a face, his nose wrinkling a bit.

“Of course not,” Thor took one more side step, “I only meant that you want someone special, someone equal to yourself, that you can spend a lifetime with…” Thor lazily gestured with his hand in a general direction, a trick he had learned from Loki as a way to draw someone’s attention without being overt, “a confidant, a friend.”

The plan worked as he had intended, his brother’s eyes falling on the woman standing amongst the group gathered around Jane. He couldn’t have timed it better as the woman was holding his son, smiling brightly as she rocked him, keeping him away from Stark who swore he was good with kids. 

“Sigyn?” Loki let out a laugh that then went short as scheming started to cloud his eyes. “She would make an excellent princess, and an even better mother. Sleipnir adores her, so no issues there. I already know I can tolerate her presence more than most.”

Loki was looking at this far too clinically, so Thor interrupted him with what he was sure was the truth, “Do you not love her, Loki?”

“Sigyn?” Loki blinked then gave him a befuddled look. “She’s my dearest friend, of course I love her, don’t be daft.”

That wasn’t what Thor was asking. 

“Now, I just need to convince her to marry me,” Loki continued on, looking back at Sigyn who was returning the child to his mother. “No better time than now, she’s likely more amenable to the idea of children.”

“Loki—”

“Don’t worry, brother,” Loki smiled at him, “I doubt I’ll be needing to invade another planet to woo Sigyn. I’ll offer her the proposition and if she says no, she says no, I would never force such a thing.”

Before Thor could reply, Loki walked off towards Sigyn who was chatting with several others flanking Jane. His wife was reluctantly passing their son off to Steve. It wasn’t that Jane didn’t trust Steve with the baby, she just didn’t want anyone holding him but herself. That usually wears off after the first couple of months.

Thor ran his hand down his face, being manipulative was harder than it looked. He was sure Loki was in love with Sigyn. All the signs where there. Could Loki be so hopelessly in love that he was completely oblivious to the truth? Or was Sigyn truly just his dearest friend and he harbored no romantic feelings for her? If this was the case, then setting Loki on the path of wooing Sigyn could ruin one of the best things in his brother’s life. 

Norns, if Loki inadvertently drove Sigyn away then he would lose his impulse control, his balance. Who would curb his homicidal tendencies? 

“Loki!” Thor called out to draw his brother back, making quick steps towards him. 

The trickster waved him off and was soon standing next to Sigyn who had just finished filling up Stark’s goblet with Xandarian wine. “Sigyn, a short word please?”

“Of course.” Sigyn looked up at him attentively, wine jug in her hand and a carefree smile on her face.

Loki opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask the woman to accompany him to a more secluded location so he could tell her of his plan. This was Thor’s last chance to stop his brother from making a huge mistake. He could just tackle him to the floor and sort out the details later. 

Except Loki didn’t speak.

The trickster’s mouth opened but nothing came out. His jaw just hung there, only slightly agape. The permanent grin that creased his cheeks slowly dropped into a more neutral expression. There was still a slight pinch at his eyebrows, but his eyes were less crafty and more confused. To put it more simply… Loki had completely gone blank.

So disconcerting it was to see Loki without some measure of grin or cunning, everyone in the room went still. Some were confused, taken aback by the strangeness. Some were fearful, they could handle a scheming Loki, this was entirely too new. Even Thor wavered between terror and confusion. 

“Did… did Loki just Blue Screen of Death?” Rogers asked into the silence that had settled. Thor did not understand the phrase, but the other Midgardians looked to Rogers with expressions of either disbelief or approval. 

Sigyn wore a look of worry, her eyes not leaving Loki’s. Thor considered stepping in, but she placed her hand on Loki’s shoulder gently and called his name. Loki’s eyes tracked to the hand, still expressionless, and then looked back to her. After a heartbeat of starring into her distressed eyes, he kissed her.

One hand going to her neck, the other her hip, Loki stepped into Sigyn and bent his head down to kiss her soundly on the mouth. Sigyn was taken completely unawares and for a moment simply stood there, wide eyed, clutching the jug of wine. Before anyone could say or do anything, the woman’s eyes fluttered shut and her arm swung wide with the jug, striking against Stark.

“I don’t like being handed things,” Stark said but the words trailed off as Sigyn was completely ignoring him in favor of Loki. Rolling his eyes, he took the jug. “Whatever.”

Sigyn’s hand went straight to the folds of Loki’s jacket, pulling him against her. The hand that was on his shoulder, ran up into his hair as she started to take over the kiss. A kiss that went on a lot longer than it probably had any right to, complete with heavy breathing and moans that really shouldn’t have been heard in polite company. Darcy felt the need to cover the child’s eyes from the scene.

Thor almost hated to do it, almost, but he cleared his throat quite loudly.

The two got the hint and separated, barely, pressing their foreheads together as Loki asked, “Sigyn, would you—”

“Yes,” she interrupted him, breathless.

“And—”

“Yes.” 

The two gazed at each other lovingly, fingers running through hair and tracing curves. But then they quickly realized they were not alone, surrounded by Agardian and Midgardian alike. 

Sigyn did her best not to look utterly embarrassed, burrowing her head against the taller man. Loki cleared his throat and said, “We’re just, uh, going to…”

It was almost painful to watch the Silvertongue flounder so with his words. There was no denying exactly where the two wanted to desperately run off to. It was perhaps a bit too crass to say it bluntly. 

“Just go,” Sif took pity on them and waved her hand in a shooing gesture, “just go.”

There was a general mummer of consensus and so the newly minted lovers walked with extreme purpose from the room. Their laughter could be heard echoing in the halls before the feast returned to its regular timber. Most of the conversation was settling bets as apparently most present knew it had only been a matter of time. 

For the Lady Sigyn had tamed the Prince Loki long ago and simply waited patiently for her prize.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again so much for reading! Double Extra-Special Thanks to those who reviewed! :)
> 
> I don't know what my next story will be, I am working on a few and I may repost some from FF.net. 
> 
> Until then, thank you again and see you soon!!


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